By Dionne Meehan
IT felt like any ordinary Sunday night.
Martin and Anthony Gallagher left their home at Charlie Daly Terrace to enjoy a night out at a local pub in the lead up to St Patrick’s Day.
Unaware of the heartbreak that lay ahead, the brothers spent the evening enjoying themselves before deciding to call it a night.
Although they lived just a stone’s throw from the vibrant nightlife of Letterkenny, the brothers usually took a taxi home, as Anthony suffered from diabetes and swelling in his legs.
But, with no taxis available that night, they had no other option but to walk.
Stopping multiple times on Lower Main Street to let Anthony rest, Martin said the last place they stopped was outside Billy Larkin’s house.
“The last words I heard him say to me were ‘Martin, I don’t think I’ll go out on Paddy’s night’,” the grieving brother recalled.
“I said ‘Anthony, you’ll go out for one or two.’
“Those were the very words I said and the next thing I felt a massive bang on my two legs.”
The scene at Lower Main Street in Letterkenny as gardaí investigated the incident in which brothers Anthony and Martin Gallagher were struck by a car. Photo: Brian McDaid.
The “bang”, as Martin described it, was the moment a runaway car slammed into him and his brother, pinning them against a wall.
Overwhelmed by the pain, Martin lost consciousness. But when he came around, two female guards were stood before him.
“I said to one of the guards, ‘my legs are broke and my back is crushed’,” the brave Letterkenny man said.
“She said ‘yes, I know.’
“I turned around to my brother Anthony, he was leaning over the car, and I said ‘Anthony, my legs are broke’ and I got no response from him.
“I started panicking and I said to the guard ‘are you going to get me out?’
“She said she had to wait for the fire brigade to come and pull the car out.”
Trapped between the car that hit them and the wall of the house, Martin was the first to be moved from the scene by emergency services.
“They took me out first and they said ‘cut the trousers off this man and get him up to the hospital as quick as you can’,” he said.
As hours passed after the incident, Martin became increasingly worried about his brother Anthony.
However, unknowing to him, Anthony had already tragically succumbed to his injuries.
Before long, Martin was brought into the neighbouring hospital room to see his brother one final time.
Brothers Martin and Anthony Gallagher. Photo Brian McDaid
“I went in and I said to the nurses ‘he’s snoring!’” Martin remarked.
“They said ‘unfortunately, that is the life support machine he is on, your brother Anthony died at the Back Road.’
“I was holding his hand and the doctors told me I had to go to Galway right away to get surgery.
“That is the last I seen of my brother Anthony in Letterkenny.”
With surgeons on standby awaiting his arrival, Martin was airlifted to University Hospital Galway.
Worried that one of his legs might require amputation, the surgical team raced against time.
Following extensive reconstructive surgeries, plates and pins, Martin’s recovery began, both physically and mentally.
“I had to lie in a bed for six and a half weeks; I wasn’t allowed to move,” Martin said.
“I had to watch my brother’s funeral from my hospital bed.
“There was a priest with me and one of the nurses.
“But it was very hard.”
Now having taught himself to walk again, Martin’s recovery is going from strength to strength.
“It was very hard learning how to walk again, but I just pushed through it,” he said.
Reflecting on his seven weeks in Galway, he said he is very grateful to the doctors and nurses who cared for him.
“They were very good,” Martin said.
“The doctors in Galway were very happy with my legs and that is why they let me go back to Letterkenny.”
Martin Gallagher is back in Letterkenny as he continues his recovery. Photo: Dionne Meehan.
Although Martin is very happy to be back in his hometown, he has yet to return to his family home or visit his brother’s grave.
Dreading the day, he said it is going to be “hard” having lived with his brother his whole life.
“It is going to be hard to open the front door,” he said.
“He would have normally been sitting at the table or sitting over on the chair.
“I am still having nightmares; I can still see the scene of the accident.”
With next Tuesday marking three months since the fatal collision, gardaí say investigations are ongoing.
However, things aren’t moving as quick as Martin would like.
“I want justice for my brother,” he said.
“But things are moving very slow.
“I don’t know when this case is going to come up.”
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