Ten Years On – 27 June 2023
The sign we left 5 years ago at the spot in Brewster, Cape Cod, where Pádraig was hit by the van in 2013. The flowers were put there by a great friend who lives in the area.
The other car came out of a side lane a little further up that narrow country road when the driver of the pickup truck put down his foot, accelerated, crossed the double yellow centre lane lines, and tried to overtake Pádraig who was on the way to his summer job in a small hotel in Brewster, Cape Cod, Massachusetts, USA.
Pádraig in Yosemite National Park in 2011, in Griffith Park Drumcondra/Dublin, and on Fox Hill Ketchikan/Alaska with his father, sister, and mother earlier this year.
A split second later, Pádraig’s head was first hit by the C pillar of the pickup truck leaving a dent in the heavy metal, and then by the hard unforgiving tarmac of the road.
A jogger, who happened to be a nurse, rushed over to him and performed CPR, most likely saving his life. The police quickly determined that the accident had been the victim’s fault and impounded his bicycle and mobile phone for further investigation. The driver of the truck was told he could leave and drove off to get his truck fixed that same day. Nobody was ever prosecuted.
The owner of the hotel where Pádraig was going to start his shift posted a note on Facebook to see if anybody could get in touch with his family. A friend in Dublin alerted his older sister in Berlin who rang her mother.
They first thought it might be a scam from somebody trying to get money feigning an emergency situation. Eventually, Pat decided to ring the number on the Facebook message. The police were still at the scene and the Sergeant who was called to the phone said that her son “had cycled into the path of a car”, was critically injured, and was on his way to Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis.
We did not know then that Pádraig’s life and our lives, that of his family and his friends, in that split second, had changed forever. Not just a little. But beyond recognition. It took some hours before we realised that our bright, life-loving, funny, tremendously fit young son had an uncertain future ahead of him.
“Let’s hope he doesn’t end up in a wheelchair”, was one of our prayers at the time.
The reality of what followed was unreal. Stuff of nightmares. Reminiscent of dystopian movies.
Imagine the worst. And then double it. Treble it. Multiply it a 1000 times.
The consultant surgeon’s diagnosis was “an intolerable life”.
His strong and repeated recommendation was to help other critically ill people to lead a full, normal life again, by donating Pádraig’s organs.
Later, back in Dublin, the first question of a specialist trauma and neuro nurse was which nursing home our 23-year old son was going to go to. The ‘sympathetic’ comment of another trauma and rehabilitation nurse, whom we had told about the accident while with Pádraig, was that it might have been better had he died – for his own and our sake.
The horror of Pádraig’s accident was intensified by the frequently inhumane, uninterested, unambitious, bureaucratic, and cold response of the health system.
The two years following the accident were very difficult for Pádraig. He nearly died on a few occasions but decided that his time had not come.
He had plans.
Ten years after his accident, he still requires care for all of his personal needs. Although we now know that he can see, read, and hear, and that he understands Irish, English, German, and Spanish. His memory is perfect. So is his reasoning. He still does not like his German father’s jokes but continues to enjoy his mother’s sense of humour. He eats and drinks the same food as us. He still goes to Bell X1 concerts, likes shows in the 3Arena, Vicar Street and the Olympia and has seen one of his favourites, The Killers, in Malahide Castle.
He has been on road, train, boat, and aeroplane trips. Even to his dream destination: Alaska.
He has donated the name and the logo of his Irish language podcast to a Foundation entirely inspired by him, promoting Life and Living with a severe Acquired Brain Injury (sABI).
There are hundreds of people like Pádraig in Ireland. An estimated 25 people each year suffer a sABI. Since Pádraig’s accident, an estimated 250 people suffered these terrible injuries.
The past ten years have been the most difficult years of our lives. All of us, his entire family, have been deeply affected by what happened to Pádraig that morning on the Cape.
One difficult lesson we had to learn was that what is right is not necessarily done, just because it is right. Sometimes, the wrong things are being done for all sorts of reasons.
The police blamed Pádraig, the victim, for the accident. When the accident happened, the driver of the car that caused Pádraig’s devastating injuries, a local plumber from down the road, was not checked for substances by the police. Neither his phone, nor his car were impounded. He did not even have to make a statement. By contrast, Pádraig’s phone was, so was his bicycle.
Had it not been for the incredible support of his friends and some wonderful people in Hyannis, we would not have been able to cope. Back home, they went to unimaginable lengths to be with him in person to make him feel their love and support. They organised the craziest fundraisers to support him, such as a swim in each county of Ireland that has a coastline, over just two long and cold Irish springtime days.
We still wonder what career Pádraig would have followed. Would he have found a loving relationship, perhaps have had children?
What would his life have been like had the driver of that truck, a respected tradesperson in his community, who continued to live a normal life with his wife and his sons, had watched the road in front of him that day?
We are in awe at what Pádraig has achieved even with the severity of his injuries. There is no sense in thinking about what his life could have been. Nonetheless, the thought does cross our minds, and not just today.
Yet, when we look at what has come from his life, his courage and inspiration have resulted in the setting up of the An Saol Foundation and a brand new service for a community of people affected by a severe Acquired Brain Injury (sABI) who were previously left behind.
It is our duty to care for one another, no matter what the injuries are. Nobody should be written off.
Pádraig is so lucky to be alive and well. We are so fortunate to have him around. But there is also a constant deep and tremendously sad sense of loss. The trauma of the past years is embedded in our being and while we are trying to build a new life, fear always lurks in the background.
The 27 June 2013 will always be the most life-changing day or our lives.
We hope that Pádraig’s resilience and his example as a trail blazer will make people think twice, especially health professionals, before they write oof those affected by sABI and condemn them to a slow and solitary existence in a nursing home bed1. Their life is as meaningful as everybody else’s, they have a right to live their lives with their injuries, and they can, despite their life-changing injuries, have an interesting, loving, and meaningful life, with fun moments and great experiences.
SUPPORT PÁDRAIG’S FRIENDS’ EFFORT – IDONATE
If you want to make contact with Pádraig and his family email:
CaringForPadraig@gmail.com or call +353-87-6736414
“It is time for change. It is time for a revolution in rehabilitation.”
Not our words but those of the person appointed by the Government of Ireland and the HSE as the National Director of Clinical Strategy and Programmes, Dr Áine Carroll.
(Irish Examiner, 03.02.2011)
Extracts from the Amhrán do Phádraig album, recorded by 40 of Pádraig’s friends during the summer of 2014 were played for the first time live on national radio on 06 November 2014. Listen to the beautiful interview with Maitíu O’Casaide of the Bonnymen by Rónán Beo@3 on RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta playing live on air extracts from the album, including Conamara, opening the programme, by Claire Hyland and Aisling Ní Laoire), the title track Dreamboat, in the background during the interview with Maitíu, by the Dreamboaters; the poem Pádraig (by Marcus Mac Conghail); and Ní Bheidh Tú Riamh leat Fhéin (You will never be on your own), by Lauren Ní Chasaide and Fiona Pain.
Check out “Dreamboat” on youtube (with chords and lyrics), follow the ‘making of‘ on Facebook (give it loads of ‘likes’), and buy the album for your friends and family!
Download the New Dreamboat poster to promote the CD
in your school, college, place of work, or neighbourhood!
Pádraig Schäler (also known as Patrick, Paddy, ‘Schaler’, and Big P!) was knocked off his bicycle as he cycled to work on Cape Cod on Thursday, 27 June 2013, at 10am. He remained in a coma for a long time. He had just finished his undergraduate studies in Trinity College Dublin and had planned to spend the summer on a J1 working visa in the US while considering which of his many plans for the future he should pursue.
After a few weeks in Cape Cod Hospital, his family brought him home to Dublin’s Beaumont Hospital. Four months later, they decided to move him to a dedicated early neuro-rehab facility in Hamburg, Germany.
The family have had to cover very significant expenses since the accident happened. His air ambulance flight to Germany alone cost 12,000 euro and had to be paid for by them. Now, weekly therapy cost run into the hundreds of euro. Necessary intensive therapy sessions abroad cost thousands of euro.
Many people have asked if they could help ease the financial burden on Pádraig’s family. For anyone who would like to make a contribution, the following account has been set up:
AIB, Blackthorn Road, Sandyford Industrial Estate, Dublin 18.
Account name: Caring For Padraig
BIC AIBKIE2DXXX
Sort Code 93-35-70
Account Number 51728089
IBAN IE70 AIBK 9335 7051 7280 89
A special committee has been set up to coordinate the fundraising efforts and to administer any funding raised. This committee is independent of the family and will be fully accountable of how any money raised is spent. (For further details on fundraising see: About)
The family used all their energy, as Pádraig’s condition became more stable, to highlight the shortcomings of insurance policies sold to young students planning to work abroad; the inadequate protection of cyclists in the US by the authorities; and, most importantly, the lack of appropriate care and therapy for patients with a severe brain injury in Ireland.
(Pádraig’s father writes a personal blog about the move to Germany at www.hospi-tales.com . You can contact him on 087-6736414.)
Please send any questions or comments you might have to CaringforPadraig@gmail.com.
Last changed 26 April 2023
In the news: Irish Times Imagines of the Day (24 April 2023), RTÉ News (24 April 2023) RTÉ Nuacht (29 June 2014), PRESS RELEASE (30 June 2014), University Times (02 July 2014), Meath Chronicle (02 July 2014), TheJournal.ie (01 July 2014), the Evening Herald (11 July 2014), and the Boston Irish Reporter (01 August 2014), Rhode Local Paper, Co. Offaly (25 October 2014), Máirtín Ó Muilleoir in NewBelfast.com (02 November 2014), Rónán Beo@3 (06 November 2014), TheJournal.ie (29 November 2014), Herald.ie (03 December 2014), Irish Times (03 December 2014), NewsTalk (03 December 2014), Seachtain (03 December 2014), Céili House on RTÉ 1 (13 December 2014). Launch of the song “Pádraig” (11 June 2015) with short live video – buy the song here to support Pádraig’s rehab programme!
Caring for Pádraig 
