By David Raleigh
Around Limerick, they’re describing miracle toddler Neil Shanahan as “the flying boy”.
Neil, aged two and a half, has made an astonishing recovery, five weeks after he fell to the first floor of the Strand Hotel from its sixth-floor rooftop balcony.
Speaking for the first time since her little boy’s dramatic fall, his mother Martina, said she believed he was saved in a series of miracles.
“I believe it was a miracle, I believe I got a dig out, I really do,” Martina, a mother of three boys said today.
Neil and his “thrilled” family arrived home in Farranshone, Limerick, last Friday night having spent the past five weeks in the care of staff at Temple Street Children’s Hospital.
With tears welling in her eyes, Neil’s overjoyed mother said: “He spent 70 hours in a critical condition, I’m just so delighted he’s home. I’m just so delighted I got my (boy) back. He’s my life. I would never have got over it if we had lost him.”
Neil, who hasn’t a mark on him, has been nicknamed “miracle boy” by his family and neighbours.
Oblivious to all the drama, he happily played away on a giant bean bag chair as his older brother Mairtín (aged 5), watched one of his favourite cartoons on the television.
The family broke into laughter after Martina asked Neil where he had he fallen from. “The roof”, he swiftly replied, with a cheeky grin.
Martina and husband, Mike, said they were still trying to take in the emotional roller coaster ride they had all been on since July 2, the day Neil plummeted five stories in what was a terrifying accident.
Neil had been attending a coffee morning in the Strand Hotel with his family when he ventured into a lift that took him to the sixth floor. Somehow he managed to get from the lift to the rooftop balcony before falling to the ground. One eye witness described seeing him dangling off the large letters that spell out the hotel’s name, before he lost his grip.
“It’s just unconscionable, and it’s just so overwhelming, from start to finish. It’s still so overwhelming,” Martina said.
Michael and Martina smiled as they looked at their three boys, Mairtín, (aged 5), who was born with cerebral palsy, Neil (aged 2), and Billy, (aged 1), all together again.
“It is just wonderful to get them all back together, because I had to hand over my little boy, our baby, for five weeks, so that wasn’t an easy thing. It is lovely to have us all back as a unit. It’s just so special, it’s a lovely time,” an emotional Martina said.
She paid special tribute to an American nurse, who was visiting Limerick on a tour of Ireland, when she saw Neil land on the ground with a sickening thud.
“I just want to thank the woman who resuscitated him, she is an American nurse. I just saw her breath life back into him,” Martina said.
“When he coughed and when he moaned, I just knew he wasn’t dead. It was an amazing thing that she was there, and that she was on site at that moment. I just feel so thankful to her, very very thankful.”
“She is my angel. We firmly believe she saved him,” she added.
The family also thanked the nurses and doctors at Temple Street Children’s Hospital, their family, neighbours, friends.
Neil spent much of his five weeks in hospital in the Intensive Care unit, and he was put in a full body cast as doctors monitored his amazing recovery.
The body cast was removed last week, and he bears no clear physical scars of the dramatic events of a little over a month ago.
He sustained damage to one of his legs and is receiving physiotherapy to get him properly back on his feet. His liver was also damaged in the fall, and he has to have his blood pressure checked daily. Apart from that, he is still the same old loveable adventurous rogue he always was, according to his mother.
“He’s just so funny, I’d be lost without him. We’re delighted,” Martina said.
Michael, who had represented the family at a special mass which was organised by neighbours in their local church, in the parish of St Munchins, added: “It’s a miracle alright, that he survived. We’re delighted to have him home.”
Gardaí are treating the incident as an “accident”.
General Manager of the Strand, Sean Lally said: “We’re absolutely thrilled at the hotel that Neil has been discharged from hospital, and is well on his way taking a full recovery.”
“The thoughts and prayers of the people of Limerick have definitely been answered on this occasion.”
Local curate, Fr Pat Seaver, who had been in the hotel speaking to Martina and Neil a few moments before the toddler wandered off, said he is convinced Neil’s recovery is miraculous.
“It is a miracle, there’s no doubt about it. I’ve never heard of such a thing,” Fr Seaver said.
Looking at a photograph of a smiling Neil taken yesterday, Fr Seaver joked: “He has his little batman outfit on him there…and, we often think of children as little angels, but we never realised that some of them could actually fly.
