WHEN JAMIE WALL experienced hard times, he didn’t have to look too far for support and people to lean on.
Today on TheScore.ie the 22 year-old – who enjoyed a brilliant underage GAA career in hurling and football with Cork – opens up honestly about his battle since an abscess developed on his spine in late June and he has been in a wheelchair since rehabilitating in hospital in Dublin.
Wall has paid tribute to the huge support from his family with his parents Michael and Sheila, and his three younger siblings Ellen, Philip and Katie.
And he is also keen to pay tribute to the wider GAA community, in particular his cousin Podge Collins, one of the stars of Clare’s All-Ireland win last year, and Cork county board secretary Frank Murphy.
“Myself and Podge would be very close together. We’re the same age and we would have grown up together. Podge has been massive, incredible. Anything he can do for me, he has done. Between himself and Frank and Ned Quinn from Kilkenny, they sorted out for me to get to the All-Ireland senior hurling finals. That was massive, it meant a lot.
“I realise the Cork county board sometimes get a bad rap. But anything Frank could do for me, he’s done. He sorted out the day of the All-Ireland intermediate hurling final in Kilkenny in August. It meant an awful lot to me to get down to that because I had been involved with the intermediates since 2011 and they won the All-Ireland.
“My family came with me, my mam, my dad and my best friend from home. We were brought into the hotel for the meal, everything was extended to them. It was a nice touch and just one of many things. Anything he could do for me, he’s done in fairness.”
Jamie has also been appreciative of best wishes he has received from several other sources.
“People involved in the GAA, everyone wants to give a hand. In Beaumount, it was crazy the amount of people who came in from different places, Tipperary, Limerick, Galway, lads from Newcestown at home in Cork. I got a get well soon card from the Courcey Rovers senior hurling panel, our next door neighbours in Kilbrittain. They’d be real local rivals but it was signed by all the players on the panel.
Support
“I got a card from Marc Ó Sé. Conor Cusack was on to me offering support. I’ve had text messages from people like James O’Donoghue and Barry John Keane who I would have known from marking a couple of years ago. I met Joe Canning, he’d be friends with Sean Collins, the older cousin.
“Everyone wishes you well and it hammers it home a bit of perspective. Fellas that you tear the head off one day, at the end of it all you’re just tearing the head off them for a ball. It doesn’t really matter after. It really humbles you. You realise ‘look you are not in this alone’. There are lots of people to lean on.”
jamwall7 / Instagram
“Jamie Wall is supporting The Life Style Sports Run in the Dark 2014 which will take place on Wednesday November 12th at 8pm. There are 5 official locations – Dublin – Cork – Belfast – London -Manchester and 40 pop-up locations confirmed world-wide.
“This annual event plays a vital role in supporting The Mark Pollock Trust’s mission to find and connect people worldwide to fast-track a cure for spinal cord injury.” To sign up for either the 5K or 10K runs and join “Team Jamie” log on to www.runinthedark.org .”
