BRAVE ALASTAIR TO BE TEAM MASCOT
Brave Alastair to be team mascot
By MELISSA KITE
THE bravery of a young boy who lost his leg in the Omagh bomb will be saluted when he leads the Irish rugby team onto the pitch for their match against England next year.
Alastair Hall, 12, will put the horror of the August 15 atrocity behind him when he strides out alongside Ireland captain Keith Wood in front of more than 50,000 fans in Dublin.
The youngster was a key player on his school team before he was injured in the Real IRA bombing.
His right leg was amputated below the knee but he showed extraordinary courage, struggling through long hours of therapy to get back to normal life.
Wearing his newly fitted artificial limb under his tracksuit, he smiled broadly as he explained how Ireland manager Donal Lenihan had invited him to be the team mascot.
He will travel with the players in their coach and then, dressed in Ireland's green strip, lead them onto the pitch for the five nations championship match in March.
His mum Gwen, who was also badly injured in the blast, said the youngster had never once complained.
"He has been very courageous. He's never been angry, never felt sorry for himself. He just seems to accept it."
But just four months ago Alastair was lying in hospital crying inconsolably with pain.
"It was just heartbreaking to see him like that. He had morphine but it didn't always work."
Both mother and son were taken to Altnagelvin Hospital in Londonderry after the bomb and when Gwen had regained consciousness Alastair was put in the bed beside her.
"When they told me he had lost his leg, my first reaction was I wished it had been me. I wanted to suffer it for him. It is so difficult to see your child suffering like that."
Gwen had taken Alastair into town that day to buy his school trousers. They were standing yards from the bomb when it went off. At first, Alastair was taken to the casualty ward at Tyrone County Hospital along with hundreds of other injured people.
His mother falls silent for a moment before she says: "I know that he saw things that day that no one should every have to see, never mind a child."
Gwen, 46, who suffered serious leg and head injuries and is still completely deaf in one ear, was so angry after the attack which claimed 29 lives that she penned a long message to the bombers from her hospital bed.
The letter, which was published in the Irish News, told those responsible: "I wish you could have heard that child crying inconsolably yesterday as he struggled with the pain from his severed limb."
She is still angry over what has been lost: "I think he would have been a very good wee rugby player, but I think that sort of sport is out now.
"It will be hard for him when he's back at school and his friends are doing games."
Putting the horrors of August 15 behind them is particularly difficult at this time of year.
But Gwen and her husband Lindsay, a retired banker, are planning a big family Christmas, with Alastair and his two brothers Gareth, 19 and Michael, 21, who are coming home from university.
Alastair has asked for some computer games for the Playstation given to him while he was in hospital.
"Then we are hoping to just get on with our lives," said Gwen. What would make that easier, she said, was if the bombers were tracked down.
"I would just love to see somebody caught for this. I think it would really help to know that these people were locked up."
By MELISSA KITE
THE bravery of a young boy who lost his leg in the Omagh bomb will be saluted when he leads the Irish rugby team onto the pitch for their match against England next year.
Alastair Hall, 12, will put the horror of the August 15 atrocity behind him when he strides out alongside Ireland captain Keith Wood in front of more than 50,000 fans in Dublin.
The youngster was a key player on his school team before he was injured in the Real IRA bombing.
His right leg was amputated below the knee but he showed extraordinary courage, struggling through long hours of therapy to get back to normal life.
Wearing his newly fitted artificial limb under his tracksuit, he smiled broadly as he explained how Ireland manager Donal Lenihan had invited him to be the team mascot.
He will travel with the players in their coach and then, dressed in Ireland's green strip, lead them onto the pitch for the five nations championship match in March.
His mum Gwen, who was also badly injured in the blast, said the youngster had never once complained.
"He has been very courageous. He's never been angry, never felt sorry for himself. He just seems to accept it."
But just four months ago Alastair was lying in hospital crying inconsolably with pain.
"It was just heartbreaking to see him like that. He had morphine but it didn't always work."
Both mother and son were taken to Altnagelvin Hospital in Londonderry after the bomb and when Gwen had regained consciousness Alastair was put in the bed beside her.
"When they told me he had lost his leg, my first reaction was I wished it had been me. I wanted to suffer it for him. It is so difficult to see your child suffering like that."
Gwen had taken Alastair into town that day to buy his school trousers. They were standing yards from the bomb when it went off. At first, Alastair was taken to the casualty ward at Tyrone County Hospital along with hundreds of other injured people.
His mother falls silent for a moment before she says: "I know that he saw things that day that no one should every have to see, never mind a child."
Gwen, 46, who suffered serious leg and head injuries and is still completely deaf in one ear, was so angry after the attack which claimed 29 lives that she penned a long message to the bombers from her hospital bed.
The letter, which was published in the Irish News, told those responsible: "I wish you could have heard that child crying inconsolably yesterday as he struggled with the pain from his severed limb."
She is still angry over what has been lost: "I think he would have been a very good wee rugby player, but I think that sort of sport is out now.
"It will be hard for him when he's back at school and his friends are doing games."
Putting the horrors of August 15 behind them is particularly difficult at this time of year.
But Gwen and her husband Lindsay, a retired banker, are planning a big family Christmas, with Alastair and his two brothers Gareth, 19 and Michael, 21, who are coming home from university.
Alastair has asked for some computer games for the Playstation given to him while he was in hospital.
"Then we are hoping to just get on with our lives," said Gwen. What would make that easier, she said, was if the bombers were tracked down.
"I would just love to see somebody caught for this. I think it would really help to know that these people were locked up."
Further Information
Publisher: NEWS LETTER
Ref: NL/157
Published Date: 24-Dec-98
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