Brave Claire fights on as donations
pour in
 By Cornelia
Lucey
The Irish community in Britain has continued to pledge its support for
car-crash victim Claire Noone — to the tune of £17,000.
Claire’s uncle Phelim Noone said that since the appeal which ran
in The Irish Post last November the money raised to help his niece recover
has both shocked and touched the hearts of all the family.
Phelim said: “All the donations and support have had such a positive
impact on our family. And we are now well on course to send Claire for
the further treatment she needs.”
One Christmas fundraising session at the Castle Inn in London’s
North Finchley — organised by Joe-John Shields and the Ramblers
— helped swell the fund by an impressive £4,000.
Speaking of the night Phelim said: “It was a packed house, with
well over 200 people turning up to show their support and have a good
night. Every little bit helps after all.”
Claire was left with sustained brain damage in a car crash on November
6, 2005 in which her boyfriend, John Larkin, was instantly killed.
She arrived at hospital with serious brain injuries but the brave 21-year-old
has since made a remarkable fight for life.
For her to recover further she needs to travel to Germany where they
have special resources to aid rehabilitation. It is expensive —
100,000 — but readers of The Irish Post have been giving anything
they can to help.
One man who was more than happy to offer his services for the night was
John-Joe Shields. The musician lost his own daughter Lorraine just over
a year ago to a car accident and he said that helping Claire in this way
helped him cope with the difficult time over Christmas.
He said: “I’m glad I did it and the crowd was great. Christmas
was very difficult for me this year — worse than last year. But
it helps being involved with Claire and their family because she has the
chance now that my daughter never did.”
The Noone family in Meath were also delighted to welcome Claire home for
two weeks over the festive period.
Her older sister Pamela said: “It was fantastic to have her home.
The money being raised is brilliant and is really helping — the
fundraiser was a great support for costs and equipment that we needed
for her over Christmas.
“Unfortunately we could not get home help because of a shortage
in nurses available, but we’ve got a big family and everyone wants
to spend time with Claire so we all pulled together and helped.”
Pamela has also noticed considerable improvement in Claire over the past
month and is optimistic for what the doctors will say in her assessment
this week.
She said: “It’s amazing to see her improve. Every time we’re
with her we can see her doing a bit more for herself and when we change
her she wants to do it. Her speech has improved too, and she’s becoming
more alert — even a bit on the nosy side asking us questions all
the time.”
“We’re hoping that they’ll confirm her discharge to
go to Germany in March within the next couple of weeks.”
Donations can be made to Bernadette Noone, The Claire Noone Fund, 1
Merestone Road, Corby, Northants NN188DH or Lloyds TSB Corby, 30 92 26,
0982468.
For further details please contact Phelim Noone on 07717 710870.
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