ONE night at the end of July, Alan Patterson’s life was, literally, turned upside-down.
A trampolining accident, while he was visiting with friends in Enniskillen, resulted in the Killygordon native and talented hockey player suffering serious spinal injuries.
The 26-year-old – having sustained serious injuries to his 4th and 5th vertebra – was taken to the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast, where he spent a total of 11 weeks, including two months in the intensive care unit.
Subsequently transferred to the high dependency unit at the Royal Victoria, he has since moved to Musgrave Park Hospital, where he is currently undergoing rehabilitation.
The road back from paralysis will be far from straightforward. The exact terms and extent of recovery are unknown for a young man engaged to be married to his fiancée, Armagh woman Hilary Bradshaw.
Close friends are in the process of setting up The Alan Patterson Trust, the precise details of which have yet to be finalised, but the proceeds from a big hockey match in Raphoe today will go towards it.
A gate collection at the McCollough Cup semi-final at the Royal and Prior, Patterson’s Alma Mater, will be taken and passed on. The native scholars are playing Wallace High School at 2.30pm.
It is eight years since the Royal and Prior last played a semi-final of this magnitude – and the class of 2008, in the school’s 400th anniversary year, included one Alan Patterson in its ranks. They lost to Cookstown in the Burney Cup final that year after extra time.
Patterson played for Raphoe Hockey Club’s first team before he moved to Instonians. He briefly returned back to Raphoe in the 2012/13 season, but was with Instonians for the last couple of seasons again.
“A fantastic player,” Richard Tinney, one of the Royal and Prior coaches, describes Patterson. “He proved that when he moved to Instonians and performed so well.
“Alan is in all of our thoughts now and hopefully any small things we can do will go some way towards his recovery.”
Last season, Patterson scored 19 goals as Instonians romped to the Ulster Premier League title and won through the play-offs to get a place in the Irish Hockey League.
Due to his catastrophic injuries, sustained in that freak accident four months ago, Patterson has been denied his team of playing at the top table of Irish Hockey.
For now, though, the small stepping stones of recovery are all that are in his mind.
In early November, a large group of Alan’s friends and family took part in the Stormont Run in the Dark, organised by the Mark Pollock Trust which aims to raise money to fast track a cure for paralysis.
“I cannot thank all of my family and friends enough for all of the kind well wishes I have received, it has been a great support,” Alan said at the time. “Hopefully in the new year I will be having my own fundraising events and thank you all again for your continued support during my recovery.”
The Trust Fund, organisers say, hopes to raise in the region of €300,000 initially.
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