OVER €50,000 HAS been raised in a day for a fund set up to aid a young Cork club GAA player who was paralysed from the chest down after a freak accident earlier this month.
19-year-old Jack O’Driscoll from Mayfield was out in the snow with friends on Thursday 1 March prior to the red alert for Storm Emma when an awkward fall resulted in him fracturing his C5 vertebrate in his neck.
He was brought to Cork University Hospital immediately after the accident but was subsequently transferred to Dublin to undergo surgery in the Mater Hospital, where he is currently being cared for.
A fundraising campaign was started yesterday with the target of raising €200,000 towards the treatment and support he will require. At the time of writing, it has raised €57,390.
O’Driscoll played hurling and football for Mayfield GAA club, and soccer for St Mary’s AFC.
He was part of the Mayfield panel that won the All-Ireland junior hurling club title last year while studying for his Leaving Cert.
Last October he was man-of-the-match at midfield for Mayfield when they won the Cork intermediate hurling league final against Sarsfields, while he was also playing for Freshers GAA teams in Cork IT.
Several GAA figures have backed the fundraising the drive.
