A WOMAN WHO was airlifted from Blarney Castle in Co Cork after she fell down steps high in the medieval building breaking three vertebrae has paid tribute to the emergency services for their swift and professional response.

Mary Cronin from Whitechurch, Co Cork was touring the castle last Wednesday afternoon at around 2pm when the accident occurred. She had gone on a post Christmas outing with her son Harry and daughter Millie.

Harry had kissed the Blarney Stone. Mary decided to go back down the steps with her son and daughter having become a bit uncomfortable about being so far up the castle. Unfortunately, Mary fell down eight stone steps damaging three vertebrae.

The injured woman told the Neil Prendeville Show, on Cork’s Red FM, that she was shocked by the intensity of pain she felt following the fall.

“When I hit the bottom, which was a very sharp step, there was like a burn that went up through me that I knew I had done some damage. It was my lower back on the left hand side.

“So I screamed for the kids, they were up in another room (of the castle.) They  ran and got help,” she said. 

One of the people who came to the assistance of Cronin was Ciara Revins a producer with Red FM.

Revins and another man  identified only as Adam raised the alarm . Cronin said Revins brought the kids aside as “they were in an awful state.”

Cronin reassured her children that they would get help and after that “it became a bit of a blur.” Staff at the castle also rushed to her assistance and Mary was given gas and air by a paramedic.

Valentia Coast Guard and the Rescue 115 helicopter joined units of the ambulance and the fire service in the rescue. The rescue was complicated given that Cronin was so far up the castle.

Philip Wrenn, who is a Rescue 115 airman,  had to go down in the castle by winch before bringing Cronin in to the helicopter. The helicopter landed in a field nearby and the injured woman was transported to hospital via ambulance.

Cronin said that everyone involved showed great heroism during the unfortunate incident.

“I was on the floor in the castle for two hours. I just couldn’t move. I was frozen.

“Fair dues to all the staff, they got me coats, everything, sat with me, chatted all the way through it. There was a paramedic John who came to the scene. He was amazing. He gave me pain relief and gas and air straight away. He kept me so calm. He started making me calls. He realised there was no way they were making me out.

“An ambulance worked on me and they discussed all that was needed. Rescue 115 were on a training mission in Shannon and they had enough fuel to get to me.

“They (the emergency services and the hospital) were brilliant. They were all amazing. All of them. I wouldn’t have gotten through it without any of them. They’re my heroes, forever and ever.

“I was stuck in the middle of the castle. They put me on a hard mattress that they could put a pelvic strap on me and I have memories of the fire brigade bringing me up to the open air and the the winchman told me I was going on a little trip. He goes ‘close your eyes it is going to be very loud.’ My next memory was being pulled in to the helicopter.

“I was seen straight away at CUH. I broke three vertebrae. I am on bed rest and walk when I can. But I am taking it very easy,” she said. 

Cronin also thanked neighbours and friends for their extraordinary generosity over the last few days.

In a post on Twitter Cork City Fire Brigade described the rescue as a “difficult and technical extraction of a patient from Blarney Castle.”  They praised the ambulance service and the Coastguard for “great interagency work” which gave the patient “the best care possible.”

Meanwhile, in September 2018 an American tourist who suffered a heart attack at the top of the Castle earlier that year  returned to the famous tourist spot in Co Cork to kiss the stone.

The Irish Coastguard helicopter airlifted David Motte to Cork University Hospital on April 20th, 2018 after he collapsed while visiting the castle. He complained of feeling well at 11am that day before falling to the ground.

Staff at the castle made every effort to assist Motte and the emergency services were called. Community first responders gave first aid to the injured man prior to the arrival of the fire service and ambulance crew.  A decision was made to airlift him because of the narrow steep stairwell in the building.

Motte (59) who is from North Carolina returned to the castle with his wife Joy to thank those who helped him with his rescue. He also wanted to finally kiss the Blarney Stone.

He told Cork’s 96FM that he was extremely grateful for the effort of staff and emergency services.

“We came back because we felt we had to because of the tremendous people in Ireland who basically saved my life and took care of Joy while this accident happened. We felt the need to come back to tell people of our love and appreciation for that. It wasn’t a question of “should we go back. We had to go back,” he said. 

Motte said it was “sort of surreal” because he had no memory of the castle other than being in the tour bus pulling up to it.

“When we came back today as we were walking in to the grounds some memories came back. That was interesting. That was exciting. The amazing thing is that you would think having a cardiac arrest on an old 600 year old castle was the worst place to do it. And it turned out to be the best thing,” he said. 

Blarney Castle is one of the most popular tourist attractions in the country and attracts thousands of visitors every year.