IT was a summer’s day that started out like any other for Brendan Barrett.
The keen cyclist went out on his bicycle, training for a triathlon.
Fit and healthy, life was going well for the then 30-year-old who was about to become a father for the first time. His wife Susan was six months pregnant, while Brendan was running JB Construction in Watford.
But that all changed when the second-generation Irishman and his family were involved in a car crash that left him with a broken neck and fighting for his life.
Remembering that fateful day in 2013, he said: “We were milliseconds from all being killed.”
Thanks only to the quick action of the London Air Ambulance Service, no one died.
Brendan recovering from the accident.And now Brendan has decided to thank the paramedics who saved him.
Along with his friend Gerry Boots, he is cycling 1,701 miles along the west coast of Ireland, completing the Wild Atlantic Way route.
In doing so, they hope to raise £50,000 for the London Air Ambulance service and London-based Irish health charity Mind Yourself.
The horrific accident happened after Brendan had finished cycling in Buckinghamshire and his sister drove out to pick him up.
His wife Susan had joined her in the car and soon all three were on their way home.
Little did they know death was staring them in the face. A car travelling in the opposite direction turned into their lane and the two collided.
“I was left with a badly broken neck but thankfully no spinal injuries,” Brendan said. “I also had a shattered eye socket, my forehead practically came off and the skin had to be peeled off and reattached.”
His sister suffered a shattered elbow while his wife and unborn baby were thankfully left relatively unscathed.
Susan later gave birth to a healthy daughter, Minnie.
Having now recovered from his injuries, Brendan has been in intense training for the past eight weeks to complete his mammoth cycle challenge in Ireland.
It will be a significant milestone for Brendan, who has been left with lasting headaches since the crash.
“This trip is very important to me,” he told The Irish Post. “This is my first time since the accident doing something and seeing it through, it’s a very progressive step.”
Brendan’s first stop in Ireland was with his maternal grandparents in Castlecomer, Co. Kilkenny, before beginning the cycle in Kinsale, Co. Cork.
Along the way, he plans to stop off in his father’s hometown of Belmullet, Co. Mayo.
Gerry, an Armagh man, will enjoy the stop-off in Co. Mayo — with Brendan describing him as “an honorary Mayo man”.
The plan is to finish on August 21 in Derry, where the pair will no doubt enjoy a pint of Guinness in something of a double celebration.
“Gerry turns 50 the day we finish,” Brendan said. “He might not want the world to know that, but he is as fit as an 18-year-old so I’ll tell anyone!”
To donate and support the cycle challenge, click here.
Brendan and Gerry with the London Air Ambulance crew. Picture: Brendan Barrett
