By Dionne Meehan
A DONEGAL man, whose leg was crushed by rubble during the Creeslough explosion in 2022, will mark a remarkable recovery by running a marathon for charity this weekend.
Dylan McGee was one of the eight people hospitalised following the tragic explosion that claimed the lives of ten people on October 7, 2022.
Creeslough man Dylan (pictured), who is a medical student in Dublin, spoke of how he nipped into the Applegreen shop on his way home from college that Friday.
“Just as I was coming out, it happened,” he recalled this week.
“It was all very random, it was just one of those things.
“Nobody knew it was going to happen,” he said.
Trapped among the rubble, Dylan witnessed the unsung heroes of the village coming to the victims’ aid.
“They all rushed over.
“Nobody would have known if that was it or if there was going to be another explosion.
“It was the thought of getting everyone out that was on their minds,” he said.
Clearing the rubble, they managed to free Dylan before continuing the rescue efforts through the night.
Trapped for no longer than 15 minutes, the 23-year-old was rushed to Letterkenny University Hospital for treatment.
Treated almost instantly, Dylan described the care he received at the hospital as “terrific”.
With no pulse present in his leg on arrival to Letterkenny Hospital, medics had to work quickly to eliminate the risk of amputation.
Sustaining substantial breakages, he was rushed to theatre where he had to undergo extensive surgery in a bid to stabilise his leg.
“They had to put in plates and bolts,” he said.
In the immediate aftermath of the incident, Dylan was unaware of what was unfolding in Creeslough as the death toll rose.
“I was just concerned about what was happening with my leg.
“I didn’t have any idea what was going on outside of that,” he said.
Filled with shock while hearing the news, Dylan said it was tragic.
“You are balancing being lucky to be alive versus the sadness surrounding what had happened,” he said.
Then faced with overcoming the grief that went hand in hand with the tragedy, Dylan set out on the long rehabilitation process.
“For the first couple of weeks I couldn’t move at all just because of the nature of the injury itself.
“I was couch bound.
“After that, it was just moving as little as possible for a couple of months.
“I had to use crutches and a boot,” he said.
But thankfully after a substantial amount of rest and physio, Dylan was back on his feet.
“It just took a bit of time getting used to the feeling of walking again,” he said.
Now gearing up to run the Connemarathon in Galway this weekend for charity, Dylan has come a long way since October 2022.
Once faced with the heart breaking news that he could never play football again due to his injury, the former St. Michael’s GAA player put his full focus into running.
Undergoing a total of 16 weeks training, Dylan said this process wasn’t as smooth as the majority of people’s marathon training.
“There were a couple of weeks where you pick up little niggles as a result of what happened but you take the week off and go at it again,” he said.
With the hard work now over him, Dylan is looking forward to running the scenic 42.2km marathon while raising funds for the Children’s Health Foundation, a charity that raises vital funds to support sick children and their families in CHI hospitals and urgent care centres throughout Ireland.
Travelling to Galway on Saturday ahead of Sunday’s big event, Dylan see’s the marathon as a celebration of how far he has come since the explosion.
If you would like to make a donation in support of Dylan’s chosen charity you can do so via https://www.gofundme.com/f/rcsi-gem-running-for-childrens-health-foundation?utm_campaign=p_lico+share-sheet&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_source=customer
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