Their 19 year old son, Tabish had sustained an injury to his arm while at home and his parents were driving him to hospital when they got a flat tyre.

Both Gardaí quickly realised that Tabish’s injury was extremely serious.

His bone was protruding and he was experiencing significant blood loss.

Gardaí are trained to know that in an emergency every second counts and neither Garda O’Donnell nor Garda McGlynn hesitated – they took Tabish’s mother’s jacket and his dad’s trouser belt and together they made a tourniquet to stem the bleeding.

Tabish’s condition was quickly deteriorating and an ambulance was still some distance away.

While Garda McGlynn carefully moved him to the Garda vehicle to urgently get him to hospital, Garda O’Donnell performed traffic management duties on the road.

Garda McGlynn drove towards Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda with activated lights and sirens but despite Garda O’Donnell’s best efforts to keep him alert, Tabish was falling in and out of consciousness.

His arm was now turning pale.

He required emergency care and so the Gardaí got in touch with the hospital’s ED to give them advance warning of his condition and he was immediately seen by medics on arrival.

His medical team have noted that had Garda O’Donnell and Garda McGlynn not administered life-saving treatment and applied a tourniquet when they had, Tabish would not have survived.

Having undergone complex surgery in Connolly Hospital, Dublin on his arm the following day, Tabish’s life is no longer in danger and we are so grateful to learn that he is now in recovery.

A Garda spokesperson said, “Some might think that ‘hero’ is too often cited, but we can say categorically that the quick-thinking, calm and measured response as team that afternoon make our our colleagues, Garda Roisín O’Donnell and Garda Rose McGlynn, true heroes.”