A young Galway father-of-two is rebuilding his life after suffering a massive heart attack just a week before Christmas – thanks to the quick-thinking of his wife and father-in-law and the dedication of emergency responders and staff at UHG.

But 35-year-old Daraigh Kelly – originally from Oughterard but living with wife Tracy and their two daughters in Letterfrack – is facing a long fight back to full health, despite already showing incredible signs of recovery.

“He is responding to voice commands and even moving his hand. But the road ahead is long and uncertain. His kidneys and other organs are still healing, and his family is adjusting to this new reality,” explained a family friend.

That’s why those friends have come together to set up a GoFundMe page to help Daraigh, Tracy and daughters Faith and Elena on this long road to recovery.

The drama began before sunrise on Wednesday, December 17, when Daraigh got up to get ready for work on the Dúlra project, helping to control Connemara’s invasive rhododendron.

But around 7am, for reasons that have yet to be fully understood, Daraigh’s heart abruptly stopped beating, sending him into a full cardiac arrest – and he collapsed, without getting a chance to say a word.

By sheer chance, Daraigh’s father-in-law happened to be in the kitchen, having stayed overnight because of a broken boiler. The alarm was raised. And wife Tracy began CPR with guidance over the phone.

Within minutes, two trained local responders were at the door. In less than fifteen minutes an ambulance had arrived, as well as further responders.

A defibrillation shock was administered to try and reset and restart Daraigh’s heart’s rhythm. It took several attempts and, under constant CPR, Daraigh was brought into the ambulance over 80 km to UHG.

Over twenty attempts were made to shock his heart back, but to no avail – and then just after being rushed into the emergency department in Galway, after a full two hours offline, his heart found a rhythm and began to beat again.

The GoFundMe fundraiser has already yielded over €33,000 of the €55,000 target; you can help by going to Daraigh’s Road to Recovery on GoFundMe.ie if you’d like to contribute.

Caption: The Kelly family…Elena, Daraigh, Tracy and Faith.

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