Fundraiser for mountain rescue team by family of the late Gillian Ryan

On August 15th last Gillian and Conor Ryan celebrated their twelfth wedding anniversary. On that evening they called in to Tipperary Down Syndrome in Thurles on Abbey Road to join Conor’s four other comrades to present a cheque to Tipperary Down Syndrome of over €32,000 raised following their Mizen to Malin cycle. Gillian was one of the first donors on their Go Fund Me page when they started last June.

Just a few weekends ago on April 18th they had a lovely family day out in Ardmore doing the cliff walk and Conor cycled home so she could go out running on Sunday.

What had started out for them as a beautiful weekend turned to tragedy for them by 3pm on Sunday afternoon. Conor worried when Gillian had failed to return by 2pm from her mountain run on Coumshinghaun, he rang the mountain rescue group South East Mountain Rescue Association (SEMRA) to alert them that she was missing while he drove to meet them at the car park. SEMRA were promptly on the scene and began the search, everyone hoping she had fallen and injured an ankle or broken a leg.

By darkness they had no visibility of her, and the search was stood down until the following morning. The SEMRA operations team maintained a presence in the area as did her husband Conor. It was late Monday evening by the time they located Gillian and sadly it was tragic news SEMRA had to communicate. Meanwhile a member of SEMRA kept vigil with the body all night and it would be late the next day before they were able to remove her body from the mountain.

Gillian’s husband Conor was so appreciative of everything SEMRA did for him during those three days in recovering Gillian’s body. He commented: “SEMRA members put their lives on hold for my family out of the kindness of their own hearts. I could never repay them enough. They are unsung heroes; they don’t get paid.”

He admired the military precision with which they approached the challenge from the moment he called them.

Conor was deeply moved by the fact that when they found her body and could not get it out before dark, one member of SEMRA stayed with her all night so that she would not be alone on the mountain side and prayed for her. He was bowled over by the generosity of the local community, offering accommodation to everyone, food etc over the three days. SEMRA provided a deeply moving guard of honour as Gillian’s remains left Thurles for her final resting place in Moycarkey. Their kindness and service to his family has touched Conor deeply and, in his heart, he knows Gillian would want him to do something to thank them for that.

Her birthday would have been on May 8th and he felt in her absence a fitting tribute to his wife’s memory would be to give something back to SEMRA for all they have done.

To this end he has set up a Go Fund Me page for SEMRA on behalf of Gillian. Since the Go Fund Me, page was set up it on April 25th it has already raised over €24,000. SEMRA and Conor are appreciative of the support people throughout the country are giving to this very worthy cause. Gillian was part of the Irish man running abroad club organised by Sonia O’Sullivan and Jarlath Hogan which brought hundreds of runners together virtually over the last 15 months. Sonia O’Sullivan has rolled in behind the effort by organising a sponsored virtual run last weekend.

SEMRA (South East Mountain Rescue) cover a huge area from Mount Leinster to North Cork to the Slieve Blooms. Please support this by simply googling fundraiser by conor ryan or find the link on Conor Ryan Moycarkey’s facebook page or click on this link and you will find the fundraiser for Gillian https://gofund.me/2bbabb0 or simply post your donations to Conor Ryan Horse and Jockey, Thurles. Your donation could save lives and save a family the grief that they are now experiencing.