Last May, Andrew Brennan fell through a roof he was working on in West Cork, suffering a catastrophic neck injury.
He spent the rest of the year in hospital, most in the National Rehab Centre. He is paralysed from the shoulders down. He left hospital just before Christmas and is now living temporarily in Dublin with his partner Rosie while their home in West Cork is being renovated to accommodate his needs.
Last Friday, at our school’s annual business lunch, Andrew had the strength and courage to address us.
Andrew is the type of strong, quiet leader that gets your attention without demanding it. He always has been.
What Andrew shared with us last Friday was quite simply extraordinary.
Not just what he said, but the way the message was shaped and delivered had such an impact on the room. It was all anyone spoke about for the rest of the day.
He spoke about his time in school. About the transition from boy to man. About what was formed there.
He named three things he felt the school helped develop in him:
- To be of service, or, a man for others.
- To trust himself and find his own true path.
- Friendship.
His true path had taken him to working with his hands. Carpentry. Farming. Working outdoors. Building with natural materials. Living close to the land in West Cork where his ancestors were from.
He loved it all, his surroundings and the people.
Following the accident, he said that he felt in some ways deprived of the first two pillars of his identity.
Instead of being of service to others, he was reliant on them.
Trusting his own path feels different when the physical expression of it is no longer available. He cannot use his hands. He cannot work outdoors in the way he once did.
And yet.
What has endured, what has strengthened, is friendship.
His friends from his year have been phenomenal.
Emotional support. Practical support. Presence. Humour. Loyalty.
You could feel it in the room.
What Andrew shared didn’t just touch everyone, it moved everyone.
It made something land.
- How fortunate we are to have the use of our bodies.
- How fortunate we are to have the capacity to care for the people we love.
- How fortunate we are, if we are lucky enough, to have friendships that endure.
And as that appreciation and gratitude warmed us all, we realised that Andrew had not lost either of his first two pillars of his identity. He had somehow tapped into both, right there in front of us.
We all felt it. It was tangible. And there’s no doubt in my mind that Andrew will continue to find ways to express his identity in new ways.
In time, he will earn a living in a meaningful way for him. He will continue to be of service to others.
It’s hard to miss something until it’s gone. Hard to value it fully while it’s quietly working in the background.
Andrew reminded us of that.
So I’ll simply say what I felt at the end of his speech.
Thank you, Andrew.
And perhaps for all of us this week, a simple pause:
What are you taking for granted that, if it were taken away, would change everything?
You can stay in touch with Andrew’s journey here. A video will be uploaded soon.