Former Kilcock Gaa player Barry O’Keeffe is to this weekend run a marathon less than a year after been involved in a car accident in Spain that almost left him paralysed.

Barry all set for his marathon at CostaSpine in Spain

O’Keeffe who soldiered with Kilcock for nearly all of his Gaa career before moving to County Meath and Moynalvey where he both played and managed through a period of exciting times for the club, attended CostaSpine in his adopted country of Spain during his road to recovery.

A spokesperson for CostaSpine today posted on their Facebook page a brief description of Barry’s miraculous recovery from the time he first walked through their doors with a cervical fracture of C6/C7 to the day asked would he be OK to run a marathon on December 10th.

“Here is one of our patients his name is Barry O’Keeffe. Our resident D.C started seeing him as a patient in the beginning of June. I saw him for a neck injury, which he sustained from a traumatic car accident. In this accident and he sustained a cervical fracture of C6/C7. 

After an intensive surgery, Barry was lucky to not be paralysed. He has extensive pins and screws to ensure his neck would heal correctly. He presented to CostaSpine 3 months post-op with almost zero range of motion and slight cervical radiculopathy down his left arm. We started treating him for this of course and after a month, we were shocked with what he requested ‘Do you think I can do the Malaga Marathon on the 10th of December ?’

We continued to treat him and his healing was phenomenal, he was incredibly diligent with everything our resident Chiropractor gave him to do. Before we knew it, he was on the rehabilitative side of his treatment plan and his results were remarkable. He then felt comfortable enough to start running and he has been so committed ever since and I am happy to say he will be there on the 10th of December competing for his medal at the Malaga marathon. 
Barry, we at CostaSpine commend you for your effort, dedication and perseverance of knowing anything is attainable with the right mind-set. He is doing this race for a school back in Ireland called Saplings Mullingar, I have attached the link so if you want to support Barry and his charity of choice please feel free to donate and get behind him.”

https://www.saplingsmullingar.ie/

All the best for Sunday Barry. 💚💛