DEGREE SUCCESS FOR WOMAN HURT IN BOMBING
Degree success for woman hurt in bombing
By Olga Bradshaw
STUDYING for a degree is a stressful business for any student, but to fight an uphill battle against trauma and injury after the first year of bookworming could be perceived as near impossible odds.
But these were exactly the odds that 23-year-old Omagh graduate, Suzanne Kelly faced after being one of the many hundreds of people injured in the bombing of Market Street nearly three years ago.
Like so many, Suzanne was in town enjoying an afternoon out with her mother, Chris, when the massive car bomb ripped through the street, and both women suffered near unimaginable injuries in the atrocity. Suzanne lost her right leg below the knee and was peppered with shrapnel, while Chris also suffered horrendous leg injuries, lost the sight in one eye and only has a quarter of her right elbow.
Now, three years later, Suzanne has not only passed her driving test in a manual car, she graduated last week from Liverpool Hope University with a second class upper division degree in primary school education.
And, the good news does not stop there, she had also secured her first post as a teacher in St. Margaret Mary's Primary in Liverpool, where the challenge of teaching a class full of eight and nine year-olds awaits her.
Although admitting to being a bit nervous, Suzanne said that she was looking forward to taking the next step in her chosen career path.
"Primary school education is something I always wanted to do, so I will enjoy it. It was an ambition of mine," she said, adding that she felt relieved that she could finally put away her own books, and put what she had learned into practice.
"I had just finished first year when the bomb went off and I lost my right leg below the knee. I was taken to Altnagelvin and was in there for five weeks and then spent three weeks in Musgrave.
"I went through a depressed state for a long time, and thought it was the end of my studying. But then by personal tutor, Tim Griffiths, from college came over to see me and he said that I could either take a year out or just do it at home for the first couple of months until I was ready to come back.
"It was difficult to get back to study obviously I was not going back the same as I left before the summer. It was very very difficult.
Supportive
"But the reaction of everybody was just fantastic and really supportive. Everybody was really helpful all the time right up until the end.
"To me getting this far was not just a matter of passing a degree. It is much more than getting one. Most people are not blown up in a bomb in their first year. I think it was like a real achievement getting through all of this and the degree really came second and it is brilliant to know that there is a job sitting waiting form me over there," she said.
Determination to succeed shines out of Suzanne as she relates how she will head off this weekend to furnish her first home as a working woman.
"We have got somewhere to live and now I am going over at the weekend to move in. It is a lot nicer than student accommodation - my first priority was to get somewhere with radiators," she laughed.
Asked whether she felt she would ever come 'home' to work, Suzanne commented: "I will be coming back for holidays, but you don't really get that many jobs here, but if a job came up I say I probably would go for it and come back here to live."
To celebrate her success a surprise party, sneakily arranged by Chris, was staged in the Kelly household at the weekend, to which even cousins from London were invited.
Mrs. Kelly said she was over the moon that her daughter had achieved so much in the past three years.
"I have always been proud of her, but I have to accept that this has been an absolutely fantastic achievement. All of the family are ecstatic for her," Mrs. Kelly said.
Among those Suzanne paid tribute to for their support during her steady climb upwards are the model Heather Mills, who lost part of a leg in a road accident several years ago, fellow Omagh survivors Wendy Graham and Doreen Preston, her family and her boyfriend of five years, Rory Doody.
Suzanne has also paid tribute to the support and encouragement she received from all the staff in the education department at the university, and to her fellow students.
By Olga Bradshaw
STUDYING for a degree is a stressful business for any student, but to fight an uphill battle against trauma and injury after the first year of bookworming could be perceived as near impossible odds.
But these were exactly the odds that 23-year-old Omagh graduate, Suzanne Kelly faced after being one of the many hundreds of people injured in the bombing of Market Street nearly three years ago.
Like so many, Suzanne was in town enjoying an afternoon out with her mother, Chris, when the massive car bomb ripped through the street, and both women suffered near unimaginable injuries in the atrocity. Suzanne lost her right leg below the knee and was peppered with shrapnel, while Chris also suffered horrendous leg injuries, lost the sight in one eye and only has a quarter of her right elbow.
Now, three years later, Suzanne has not only passed her driving test in a manual car, she graduated last week from Liverpool Hope University with a second class upper division degree in primary school education.
And, the good news does not stop there, she had also secured her first post as a teacher in St. Margaret Mary's Primary in Liverpool, where the challenge of teaching a class full of eight and nine year-olds awaits her.
Although admitting to being a bit nervous, Suzanne said that she was looking forward to taking the next step in her chosen career path.
"Primary school education is something I always wanted to do, so I will enjoy it. It was an ambition of mine," she said, adding that she felt relieved that she could finally put away her own books, and put what she had learned into practice.
"I had just finished first year when the bomb went off and I lost my right leg below the knee. I was taken to Altnagelvin and was in there for five weeks and then spent three weeks in Musgrave.
"I went through a depressed state for a long time, and thought it was the end of my studying. But then by personal tutor, Tim Griffiths, from college came over to see me and he said that I could either take a year out or just do it at home for the first couple of months until I was ready to come back.
"It was difficult to get back to study obviously I was not going back the same as I left before the summer. It was very very difficult.
Supportive
"But the reaction of everybody was just fantastic and really supportive. Everybody was really helpful all the time right up until the end.
"To me getting this far was not just a matter of passing a degree. It is much more than getting one. Most people are not blown up in a bomb in their first year. I think it was like a real achievement getting through all of this and the degree really came second and it is brilliant to know that there is a job sitting waiting form me over there," she said.
Determination to succeed shines out of Suzanne as she relates how she will head off this weekend to furnish her first home as a working woman.
"We have got somewhere to live and now I am going over at the weekend to move in. It is a lot nicer than student accommodation - my first priority was to get somewhere with radiators," she laughed.
Asked whether she felt she would ever come 'home' to work, Suzanne commented: "I will be coming back for holidays, but you don't really get that many jobs here, but if a job came up I say I probably would go for it and come back here to live."
To celebrate her success a surprise party, sneakily arranged by Chris, was staged in the Kelly household at the weekend, to which even cousins from London were invited.
Mrs. Kelly said she was over the moon that her daughter had achieved so much in the past three years.
"I have always been proud of her, but I have to accept that this has been an absolutely fantastic achievement. All of the family are ecstatic for her," Mrs. Kelly said.
Among those Suzanne paid tribute to for their support during her steady climb upwards are the model Heather Mills, who lost part of a leg in a road accident several years ago, fellow Omagh survivors Wendy Graham and Doreen Preston, her family and her boyfriend of five years, Rory Doody.
Suzanne has also paid tribute to the support and encouragement she received from all the staff in the education department at the university, and to her fellow students.
Further Information
Publisher: TYRONE CONSTITUTION
Ref: TC/0890
Published Date: 19-Jul-01
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