David Motte, from North Carolina, was saved thanks to a combination of advanced first-aid training, expertise, a swift response by the emergency services, and a remarkable set of coincidences, writes Eoin English in The Irish Examiner, and returned to Cork on last month to launch his book ‘The Gift of Blarney’ which recounts his dramatic rescue at Blarney Castle after he suffered a heart attack. Five years on from David Motte’s brush with death near the top of the world-famous tourist attraction, the grateful American returned to Cork where, during an emotionally-charged event in City Hall, he met the behind-the-scenes and frontline emergency service staff and bystanders who formed a chain of survival and saved his life. As he stood between the small army of ordinary everyday heroes and launched the book he’s been inspired to write about his experience, he looked at them all and said: “This was humanity at its best. Thank you. I love each of you. Thanks to a combination of advanced first-aid training, expertise, a swift response by the emergency services, and a remarkable set of coincidences, the right people with the right skills were on the scene within minutes, they restarted his heart, he was airlifted in a dramatic operation and transferred to a waiting ambulance which rushed him to Cork University Hospital (CUH), where he continued to make a remarkable recovery, and was able to return to the US within days. Just over five months later, the couple made an emotional return to Blarney Castle to fulfil their wish to kiss the famous stone, and more importantly, to thank some of the castle staff who helped save Mr Motte’s life. But such is their deep love for Blarney now, the couple returned to Cork again to launch the book that Mr Motte has written about his near-death experience, and what it has taught him and about life, and death. The launch was attended by many of the key people—the ambulance dispatcher, the castle staff, the community first responders, the paramedics, fire fighters, coast guard volunteers and nurses—who all worked on him that day in April 2018, and ultimately helped saved his life including Siobhan Hogan, Jeremy Downey, Kieran Staunton, Ger O’Dea, Conor Healy, Martin Coughlan, Victor Shine and Deborah Lynch.
