BOMB VICTIM HOME IN TIME FOR CHRISTMAS
Bomb victim home in time for Christmas
BY: MICHELE CANNING
AN OMAGH woman who miraculously survived horrific injuries in the Market Street bombing, confounded medics when she walked from hospital this week determined to rebuild her life and return to work.
Doreen Preston who spent over a month in Intensive Care, verged on the brink of death three times with doctors fearing that she would not make it.
However, four months after the atrocity, the brave Omagh mother left hospital in time to spend Christmas with her family.
Doreen was welcomed back to her home town on Sunday after being discharged from Musgrave Hospital in Belfast.
She lost three of her best friends in the bomb - Veda Short, Ann McCombe and Geraldine Breslin. They had worked in Wattersons at High Street.
Just as all four had faced the trials and tribulations of life together, both at work and socially, they were together when the car bomb exploded. Only Doreen survived. However, such were the extent of her injuries, doctors in Musgrave Park Hospital feared for her life many times.
But it was the fighting spirit of the local woman, and her faith in God that she believes pulled her through and allowed her to return home to spend Christmas with her husband, John, her son, Rodney, daughter-in-law Amanda and first grandchild, two year old David. And of course, her dog Jock.
Jock returned to Doreen on Monday night. As she awaited his homecoming she said "He is great, I missed him so much. I used to walk him every morning and every night. Unfortunately I will not be able to walk him again for some time."
Looking back on the four months, Doreen says "I call myself wonder woman. I was a fighter and the world should know what I suffered. Many did not understand how ill I was or how close I came to death.
"But I'm here, thank the Lord I'm here. It was only that I had the help of the Lord that my left side was saved. I'm left handed. He carried me through. That and the prayers of people all over the world".
Doreen sustained horrific injuries as a result of the 300lb bomb explosion at Market Street on August 15th.
She has lost her right leg to the knee, had two fingers on her right hand amputated and her heel on her left leg had to be sewn back on again.
Those are her outward physical injuries. Doreen's lungs were also melted, her bowel perforated and part of it removed, and her ear-drum burst. Whilst seriously ill, she contracted a deadly blood disorder.
She recalls well the bright sunny Saturday afternoon when she and Veda, a friend of 20 years, were returning to Wattersons after having lunch together, when they were ordered back down the street by a policeman.
Speaking from her Hospital Road home on Monday to the 'Herald', she recalled "When we reached Mr G's it felt really cold even though it was such a lovely day so we decided to cross over to Elizabeth McElroys shoe shop. We were with Anne, Geraldine, Olive Hawkes and Linda McCullagh, Veda's niece.
"Veda and Linda were looking up the street and we were looking down towards Campsie. What I know about the bomb is very little.
"When the bomb went off. I remember being hurled into the air. I thought I hit a lamp post but it was either the ground or the pavement.
"I could feel sparks and seen a bright light. I remember screaming and I tried to pull my head up but I couldn't do it for ages. I know now it was because of the people on top of me. I was at the bottom of the pile.
"I remember Rodney Cunningham shouted 'get this woman a door' and I recall being transferred onto a door and I was screaming with pain
Conscious during that time despite the horrific injuries and the pain, Doreen recalls being taken to the Tyrone County Hospital and laid on the floor of Casualty.
Shortly after, she was transferred to Altnagelvin by air and three days later moved to the Ulster Hospital at Dundonald where she spent almost five weeks in the Intensive Care Unit.
It was a few days after the bomb that Doreen, who was on a ventilator seriously ill, was told that her friends were dead
She broke down as she recalled them. She said "At the time it didn't register. I kept asking about them as time went on. John said to me "Doreen, I'm sorry but your best friend Veda is dead".
Within the next few weeks she was also told about Ann and Geraldine.
Both had worked in Doreen's department. She gave Ann a lift to and from work each day and both had travelled to Dublin to see their favourite singer Daniel O'Donnell.
On November 17th, Doreen was transferred from the Ulster Hospital to Musgrave, where she was fitted with an artificial limb. After being hospitalised for four months, she was released for good on Thursday.
At home on Monday she said "Its great to be home but I didn't come home immediately. I spent the weekend in Belfast with my son's mother-in-law and it was nice to get that wee break."
Adjusting to life with an artificial limb and not having the use of her right hand is presenting enormous difficulties for Doreen.
"I have to be washed, dressed and my hair combed. It's hard because I'm just like a baby" she said.
At night time, Doreen is affected by phantom pains in the part of the leg that she has lost.
She adds "I get frustrated sometimes because I am unable to do things that I could before. I see things to be done and I can't do them. If I bend down I would fall over.
"My day used to consist of walking my dog in the morning, going to work, coming home and making the tea, washing the dishes, walking the dog and visiting my mother.
"But when something like this happens you get your priorities right. Life is so sweet so please enjoy it while you can.
"It is very hard to adjust. I have good days and bad days. Put yourself in my place. But hopefully through time I will get there" she adds.
It is that fighting spirit which is still so evident in Doreen Preston that will ensure that she will see the bad times through to better days.
"I am determined to do it. I am not the type of person to let it get to me because if I was I wouldn't be here now. I have always been a cheery type of person. I have my spirit and my faith and that's why I'm here."
Doreen is also determined to return to work at Wattersons. In the 22 years that she has worked in the store she has never been off on Christmas Eve. This year will be the first.
"It is not my wish, I would rather be working" she says.
On Monday. Doreen passed the bomb site for the second time as she paid her first visit to her colleagues.
That visit, admits Doreen, was one of the most difficult things she has ever had to do, not alone passing the bomb site, but returning to the store where she knew she would not see her friends.
"I passed the bomb site on Sunday, but there was no-one on the street. I passed again this morning, I looked out and I saw the flowers and I thought it was so nice.
"I filled up but I managed to get myself composed as I knew I was going into the shop.
"The first person I met when I went in was Tom, He's a great boss, one in a million. He and his wife came every week to see me when I was in hospital.
"In the shop all the girls flocked around me. They didn't know I was coming and they really welcomed me with open arms, as did the customers.
"I went over to Veda's department. It was very hard, just terrible. I just broke down and cried. If I ever had a problem I went to Veda, and if she ever had one she came to me.
"I did go upstairs in the shop, and it was very hard, but it's over me now and it won't be so difficult the next time."
"Wattersons is a family concern, you are treated like family and it really is just one happy family."
Whilst she was in the shop a customer had phoned to see how Doreen was, unaware that she was in the premises.
The sentiments of that caller have been echoed hundreds of times over from people across the divide and across the world.
She has received over 800 cards and letters and one of her rooms at home is packed with gifts that were bought for her.
"It's very moving and very nice to know that people think so much about me. People are so caring and so loving. Words cannot say how I felt."
She told how three customers bought her a dishwasher.
"These three girls were customers who came into the shop. There are so many nice people and it only takes one rotten apple to destroy the rest.
"There are so many small things that people have done that mean so much."
She told of receiving a letter from a customer when she arrived home on Sunday, which moved her to tears.
Doreen will also be eternally grateful to her sister-in-law, Frances Edwards, from Wurrell, who wrote to her every week that she was in hospital.
Frances did visit but Doreen was critically ill at the time and didn't know she was there
"She has been such a tower of strength. She has given me great support and been really wonderful. She was also a great strength to John and she is coming over on January 9th to look after me for two weeks."
Of her husband John, she said "Everyone as saying 'poor Doreen' but no one thought 'poor John'. He was there and I know he had our son, his brothers and sister, but it was hard for him.
"He came up every day and stayed at the weekend."
Her son and his wife and David visited Doreen every night in the hospital. She is relieved that she will be able to see her grandson grow up now.
"It will be nice to see him grow up. In the hospital he would give me really tight hugs He is the most lovable child."
One high point of Doreen's stay in hospital was when she received a phone call on her birthday from a very special person to her, Daniel O'Donnell.
"I had my own ward and the nurse told me that they would have to move the bed out as George Jones was phoning back in five minutes.
"At that time I had been suffering from nausea for three and a half months but I felt wonderful that day. It was my birthday.
"When George came on the phone he asked "is that wee Doreen" and I just cried.
He asked me who my favourite singer was and of course I said Daniel O'Donnell. And Daniel came on the phone.
"Daniel had just returned from a tour the night before and was phoning from home. He asked me how I was and when I was coming down for a wee cup of tea. We talked for a while and he really made my day.
"During the Christmas lights switch on he also mentioned my name on television and wished me all the best.
"Then on Thursday fortnight, he phoned me again and wished me a Happy Christmas and I told him I would be seeing him in the Waterfront in April and I had the front seat."
Looking to the future, Doreen has ambitious plans, which include a 'girls' holiday to Salou in May and returning to work.
The holiday was booked in June of this year for May of next year and Doreen is determined to go with close friends, Vera McGale and Maeve O'Hagan.
As for getting back to work she said "I can't wait to get back and they are waiting for me to come back"
She also has plans to visit some of the nurses she came to know during her long stay in hospital." I remember when I was leaving Altnagelvin
Hospital, one nurse said to me 'Doreen if you make it will you come back and let me know how you are doing'.
I said I would and I intend going to see her.
"On Sunday, I went back to the Ulster Hospital to see the nurses there in Intensive Care and they couldn't believe it was me."
Of the bombers she said "I would like them to be caught and I hope they suffer the way that I have. They injured 250 people and killed 29, including three of my best friends and a customer.
"It's very hard. If they are caught they should definitely do time because they mowed us down. Both communities got it hard. I am sure everyone thinks like me. I would like them to be caught" she says.
"Omagh was a very close knit community before this happened and people are even closer now. ''The bomb did bring people closer together and that was proved by the get well cards showing how people on both sides of the community think."
BY: MICHELE CANNING
AN OMAGH woman who miraculously survived horrific injuries in the Market Street bombing, confounded medics when she walked from hospital this week determined to rebuild her life and return to work.
Doreen Preston who spent over a month in Intensive Care, verged on the brink of death three times with doctors fearing that she would not make it.
However, four months after the atrocity, the brave Omagh mother left hospital in time to spend Christmas with her family.
Doreen was welcomed back to her home town on Sunday after being discharged from Musgrave Hospital in Belfast.
She lost three of her best friends in the bomb - Veda Short, Ann McCombe and Geraldine Breslin. They had worked in Wattersons at High Street.
Just as all four had faced the trials and tribulations of life together, both at work and socially, they were together when the car bomb exploded. Only Doreen survived. However, such were the extent of her injuries, doctors in Musgrave Park Hospital feared for her life many times.
But it was the fighting spirit of the local woman, and her faith in God that she believes pulled her through and allowed her to return home to spend Christmas with her husband, John, her son, Rodney, daughter-in-law Amanda and first grandchild, two year old David. And of course, her dog Jock.
Jock returned to Doreen on Monday night. As she awaited his homecoming she said "He is great, I missed him so much. I used to walk him every morning and every night. Unfortunately I will not be able to walk him again for some time."
Looking back on the four months, Doreen says "I call myself wonder woman. I was a fighter and the world should know what I suffered. Many did not understand how ill I was or how close I came to death.
"But I'm here, thank the Lord I'm here. It was only that I had the help of the Lord that my left side was saved. I'm left handed. He carried me through. That and the prayers of people all over the world".
Doreen sustained horrific injuries as a result of the 300lb bomb explosion at Market Street on August 15th.
She has lost her right leg to the knee, had two fingers on her right hand amputated and her heel on her left leg had to be sewn back on again.
Those are her outward physical injuries. Doreen's lungs were also melted, her bowel perforated and part of it removed, and her ear-drum burst. Whilst seriously ill, she contracted a deadly blood disorder.
She recalls well the bright sunny Saturday afternoon when she and Veda, a friend of 20 years, were returning to Wattersons after having lunch together, when they were ordered back down the street by a policeman.
Speaking from her Hospital Road home on Monday to the 'Herald', she recalled "When we reached Mr G's it felt really cold even though it was such a lovely day so we decided to cross over to Elizabeth McElroys shoe shop. We were with Anne, Geraldine, Olive Hawkes and Linda McCullagh, Veda's niece.
"Veda and Linda were looking up the street and we were looking down towards Campsie. What I know about the bomb is very little.
"When the bomb went off. I remember being hurled into the air. I thought I hit a lamp post but it was either the ground or the pavement.
"I could feel sparks and seen a bright light. I remember screaming and I tried to pull my head up but I couldn't do it for ages. I know now it was because of the people on top of me. I was at the bottom of the pile.
"I remember Rodney Cunningham shouted 'get this woman a door' and I recall being transferred onto a door and I was screaming with pain
Conscious during that time despite the horrific injuries and the pain, Doreen recalls being taken to the Tyrone County Hospital and laid on the floor of Casualty.
Shortly after, she was transferred to Altnagelvin by air and three days later moved to the Ulster Hospital at Dundonald where she spent almost five weeks in the Intensive Care Unit.
It was a few days after the bomb that Doreen, who was on a ventilator seriously ill, was told that her friends were dead
She broke down as she recalled them. She said "At the time it didn't register. I kept asking about them as time went on. John said to me "Doreen, I'm sorry but your best friend Veda is dead".
Within the next few weeks she was also told about Ann and Geraldine.
Both had worked in Doreen's department. She gave Ann a lift to and from work each day and both had travelled to Dublin to see their favourite singer Daniel O'Donnell.
On November 17th, Doreen was transferred from the Ulster Hospital to Musgrave, where she was fitted with an artificial limb. After being hospitalised for four months, she was released for good on Thursday.
At home on Monday she said "Its great to be home but I didn't come home immediately. I spent the weekend in Belfast with my son's mother-in-law and it was nice to get that wee break."
Adjusting to life with an artificial limb and not having the use of her right hand is presenting enormous difficulties for Doreen.
"I have to be washed, dressed and my hair combed. It's hard because I'm just like a baby" she said.
At night time, Doreen is affected by phantom pains in the part of the leg that she has lost.
She adds "I get frustrated sometimes because I am unable to do things that I could before. I see things to be done and I can't do them. If I bend down I would fall over.
"My day used to consist of walking my dog in the morning, going to work, coming home and making the tea, washing the dishes, walking the dog and visiting my mother.
"But when something like this happens you get your priorities right. Life is so sweet so please enjoy it while you can.
"It is very hard to adjust. I have good days and bad days. Put yourself in my place. But hopefully through time I will get there" she adds.
It is that fighting spirit which is still so evident in Doreen Preston that will ensure that she will see the bad times through to better days.
"I am determined to do it. I am not the type of person to let it get to me because if I was I wouldn't be here now. I have always been a cheery type of person. I have my spirit and my faith and that's why I'm here."
Doreen is also determined to return to work at Wattersons. In the 22 years that she has worked in the store she has never been off on Christmas Eve. This year will be the first.
"It is not my wish, I would rather be working" she says.
On Monday. Doreen passed the bomb site for the second time as she paid her first visit to her colleagues.
That visit, admits Doreen, was one of the most difficult things she has ever had to do, not alone passing the bomb site, but returning to the store where she knew she would not see her friends.
"I passed the bomb site on Sunday, but there was no-one on the street. I passed again this morning, I looked out and I saw the flowers and I thought it was so nice.
"I filled up but I managed to get myself composed as I knew I was going into the shop.
"The first person I met when I went in was Tom, He's a great boss, one in a million. He and his wife came every week to see me when I was in hospital.
"In the shop all the girls flocked around me. They didn't know I was coming and they really welcomed me with open arms, as did the customers.
"I went over to Veda's department. It was very hard, just terrible. I just broke down and cried. If I ever had a problem I went to Veda, and if she ever had one she came to me.
"I did go upstairs in the shop, and it was very hard, but it's over me now and it won't be so difficult the next time."
"Wattersons is a family concern, you are treated like family and it really is just one happy family."
Whilst she was in the shop a customer had phoned to see how Doreen was, unaware that she was in the premises.
The sentiments of that caller have been echoed hundreds of times over from people across the divide and across the world.
She has received over 800 cards and letters and one of her rooms at home is packed with gifts that were bought for her.
"It's very moving and very nice to know that people think so much about me. People are so caring and so loving. Words cannot say how I felt."
She told how three customers bought her a dishwasher.
"These three girls were customers who came into the shop. There are so many nice people and it only takes one rotten apple to destroy the rest.
"There are so many small things that people have done that mean so much."
She told of receiving a letter from a customer when she arrived home on Sunday, which moved her to tears.
Doreen will also be eternally grateful to her sister-in-law, Frances Edwards, from Wurrell, who wrote to her every week that she was in hospital.
Frances did visit but Doreen was critically ill at the time and didn't know she was there
"She has been such a tower of strength. She has given me great support and been really wonderful. She was also a great strength to John and she is coming over on January 9th to look after me for two weeks."
Of her husband John, she said "Everyone as saying 'poor Doreen' but no one thought 'poor John'. He was there and I know he had our son, his brothers and sister, but it was hard for him.
"He came up every day and stayed at the weekend."
Her son and his wife and David visited Doreen every night in the hospital. She is relieved that she will be able to see her grandson grow up now.
"It will be nice to see him grow up. In the hospital he would give me really tight hugs He is the most lovable child."
One high point of Doreen's stay in hospital was when she received a phone call on her birthday from a very special person to her, Daniel O'Donnell.
"I had my own ward and the nurse told me that they would have to move the bed out as George Jones was phoning back in five minutes.
"At that time I had been suffering from nausea for three and a half months but I felt wonderful that day. It was my birthday.
"When George came on the phone he asked "is that wee Doreen" and I just cried.
He asked me who my favourite singer was and of course I said Daniel O'Donnell. And Daniel came on the phone.
"Daniel had just returned from a tour the night before and was phoning from home. He asked me how I was and when I was coming down for a wee cup of tea. We talked for a while and he really made my day.
"During the Christmas lights switch on he also mentioned my name on television and wished me all the best.
"Then on Thursday fortnight, he phoned me again and wished me a Happy Christmas and I told him I would be seeing him in the Waterfront in April and I had the front seat."
Looking to the future, Doreen has ambitious plans, which include a 'girls' holiday to Salou in May and returning to work.
The holiday was booked in June of this year for May of next year and Doreen is determined to go with close friends, Vera McGale and Maeve O'Hagan.
As for getting back to work she said "I can't wait to get back and they are waiting for me to come back"
She also has plans to visit some of the nurses she came to know during her long stay in hospital." I remember when I was leaving Altnagelvin
Hospital, one nurse said to me 'Doreen if you make it will you come back and let me know how you are doing'.
I said I would and I intend going to see her.
"On Sunday, I went back to the Ulster Hospital to see the nurses there in Intensive Care and they couldn't believe it was me."
Of the bombers she said "I would like them to be caught and I hope they suffer the way that I have. They injured 250 people and killed 29, including three of my best friends and a customer.
"It's very hard. If they are caught they should definitely do time because they mowed us down. Both communities got it hard. I am sure everyone thinks like me. I would like them to be caught" she says.
"Omagh was a very close knit community before this happened and people are even closer now. ''The bomb did bring people closer together and that was proved by the get well cards showing how people on both sides of the community think."
Further Information
Publisher: ULSTER HERALD
Ref: UH/1723
Published Date: 24-Dec-98
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