A table quiz will take place in the Stone House Navan on Friday 21st November at 9 pm in aid of Michael and Sheila Wall, to support them with their 22 year old son Jamie who suffered a spinal stroke  and is confined  to a wheelchair at the moment. Michael, Sheila and Jamie have strong local connections having lived in Navan for quite a few years before moving back to Cork. Sheila taught in Scoil Ultain Naofa Gibbstown and in St Olivers in Navan while Michael who worked in Bank of Ireland Navan was involved with Wolfe Tones and also played hurling for Navan O Mahoneys . The table of 4 will cost €40.  All proceeds go to the Wall family. Please come along and support this event.

Jamie, a talented young sportsman having spent his early years in the Royal county always remained a Meath supporter and had he not moved to Cork would no doubt have become well known in Meath GAA circles. All was going well for Jamie until recently and he has just qualified as a primary school teacher. 

Jamie has an impressive CV. In 2010 he played for Cork in the All-Ireland minor football final against Tyrone. For the next three years he picked up Munster U21 football medals and came up just short in last year's All-Ireland decider against Galway.
He hurled as well. For his club Kilbrittain, for his county at minor and U21, and for his college. In the spring of 2013 he featured as Limerick's Mary Immaculate College reached their first ever Fitzgibbon Cup final.

On June 25th last, Jamie  lined out in the Munster intermediate hurling final in Cork's win over Tipperary, at wing-forward.
He'd been bothered before that game by a slight pain in his back but dismissed it. Three days after that Tipperary game, he was at home in West Cork and the warning signs went off. An infection had developed, an abscess on his spine. He was rushed to hospital in Cork and then on to Beaumont in Dublin where he was operated on. Beaumont would be his home for the next ten weeks. He had to re-adjust and cope with a changed life. Since the first Friday of September, he's been in the National Rehabilitation Hospital in Dun Laoghaire.

His positivity is admirable in a tough and unforgiving situation. In a recent interview with the Independent's Colm Keys, Jamie made the following remarks.

"I can't force my legs to start working right now. I can't control them to get better, they either will or they won't. The only thing I can control is my own head and my own attitude. Being negative isn't going to make me any better.

"There are going to be dark moments and horrible moments. I've had them all. There's moments when you think the worst. At the moment I'm in a scary place, you can't hide from that. But I just resolved myself, the things I can control I'm going to do everything I can to control them.

"Sometimes when you're having a bad day, try to find one small thing I can win at. Something that makes that day a success. Even if it's something as simple as doing something unassisted that I haven't done before."

Jamie has had great support from his family and friends. His family - parents Michael and Sheila and siblings Ellen, Philip and Kate - have been strong, his first cousins are the Collins brothers, Podge and Sean, from Clare. He and Podge are the same age and close. 

The future is uncertain for Jamie and he has many challenges ahead. Please come along to the Stonehouse Navan on Friday 21st November . Quiz starts at 9pm. Table of four €40.

 

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