Couple’s Clash of the Titans raises €31k for Coombe device
By Aideen O'Flaherty
A TALLAGHT couple raised €31,000 for Friends of the Coombe, after seeing the exemplary care that the staff there gave their twins.
The twins fought for their lives after being born prematurely at 24 weeks.
Rob Collins, Paul Caffrey, Andy Lennon, Eamonn Brownlee and Ciaran Walsh
A white-collar boxing event in the Button Factory in Temple Bar, called Clash of the Titans, was held at the end of September, and last week the amount raised was officially confirmed, with organisers Celine Caffrey (38), who is originally from Kilnamanagh, and her husband Dave Caffrey (37), from Aylesbury, expressing their delight that the event was so successful.
Dave told The Echo: “It was amazing, everyone got behind it. It all went really well.”
Almost 500 people attended the event, where 20 competitors (14 men and six women), the majority of whom came from Tallaght and Walkinstown, put on their boxing gloves and got into the ring to raise money for charity.
The Caffreys decided to raise money for the Coombe after staff at the hospital cared for them and their prematurely born twins in 2017.
Celine went into pre-term labour in Lanzarote on the last day of a family holiday with her husband and their son, Caelum, in May 2017, and after being airlifted to Dublin she was rushed to the Coombe, where after two days she began to go into full labour.
She gave birth to twin boys, David and Daniel, after an emergency C-section, with the boys being born at 24 weeks and weighing just 600 grams, and having to be resuscitated after being delivered.
The two boys were brought into the Intensive Care Unit, where David sadly passed away three days after being born.
Dave Caffrey (left) clashes with Ciaran Walsh
Daniel, despite his difficult start, is now a thriving, healthy and happy young boy.
The experience the couple had in the Coombe moved them to try to raise funds for a medical device for the maternity hospital, called Paul, with the proceeds from the event being used to enable the hospital to purchase this piece of equipment.
Paul is the world’s most advanced premature baby clinical skills simulator, which gives the most accurate
re-creation of a pre-term baby born in the 27th week of pregnancy available today, and assists in training staff on how to apply breathing apparatus on premature babies.
Dave added: “We’re just delighted to be giving something back, and knowing that it will help other families who are in the Coombe and that it will make a difference to them.”
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