#SaolWalk   #PádraigsWalk

iwww.CaringforPadraig.org

We got up early and made it to Brewster Police Department for 9am. Together with about 16 old and new friends, Pádraig went, in his wheelchair, up the road and around the corner, for just over a mile, to the exact spot where the accident had happened at the exact time we got there, at 10am. Brewster Police Department pulled out all the stops and secured our walk with two squad cars, or: “Cruisers”, one at the back and one in the front, stopping traffic along the way. “We don’t want anybody to get hurt”, one officer said. Who could have disagreed? We had wondered how we’d get back to the Police HQ to collect our cars but shouldn’t have worried. We all got a ride in the ‘cruisers’.

At the spot – used to be close to the Bramble Inn, now the Spinnaker -, Cian, Neil and I had put down a plaque two years ago, when we had cycled from Boston to Brewster for the third anniversary of the accident. I had not expected to see that simple, plastic plaque ever again, but someone had stabilised it with a metal stand and repositioned it prominently beside the roadside in what almost looked like a small garden.

And then, at 10am, a jogger came along an stopped. It was Mary A. Foley who had done the exact run at exactly the same time, exactly five years ago. When she witnessed the accident and was the first to give Pádraig CPR (she is a nurse). Still cannot believe it.

One of our new friends invited us all to her house where we had a lovely breakfast in the best company you could imagine.

Quick stop at the Brewster Brewhouse for beer and pizza for Pádraig and his two friends who had been with him on the Cape five years ago. On to the house on the lake where they all had stayed, quick chat with the owner. On to see his wife and daughter in law. And then dinner at Gerardi’s Cafe where Pádraig had worked. Pádraig picked his favourite dishes and enjoyed the best Italian food on the Cape! The owner and staff were so welcoming, it was brilliant!

Don’t ask me about emotions. About how I felt. About what it all means or meant to  me.