A talented hurler left temporarily paralysed because of a freak accident during a match has married his “amazing” girlfriend who has been an “unbelievable support”.
Des Fitzgerald and Sarah McEvoy, both from Charleville, tied the knot yesterday in a private ceremony at Holy Cross Church in the north Cork town.
Fitzgerald has been undergoing intensive physiotherapy at the National Rehabilitation Centre in Dún Laoghaire since last November following the accident in October, which left him paralysed below the shoulders.
Five months later, a determined and focused Fitzgerald (30) has already started using a Zimmer frame to begin taking a few steps. Speaking recently, he said getting married was one of the things that had kept him going in rehab.
“I’m a lucky man, I have to say. She stayed with me through all this when a lot of people would be gone,” he told RTÉ. “I had it bad, but I can only imagine what they were going through. Sarah moved up to Dublin as soon as it happened. I don’t think she left me for four weeks. My parents were the same. They were staying up here in Dublin and driving home and coming back up the next day.”
The couple celebrated their wedding yesterday with a reception at Ballyseede Castle Hotel, Tralee, Co Kerry.