I’ve been to every rally and could have filled a bigger bus this time

I’ve been to every rally and could have filled a bigger bus this time

18 February 2015

AN Annacloy businessman hailed a hero after being shot by an armed robber two decades ago, brought a packed 54-seater bus to Saturday’s rally to demonstrate his continuing gratitude to the Downe Hospital for saving his life.

Seventy nine year-old Joseph McGrath was first saved by the Downe as a teenager in the 1950s when he suffered a potentially fatal burst appendix.

However, it was his second dice with death that hit the news after the father of 15 chased a masked gunman from his shop after being shot through the neck.

The robbery happened in May 1993 as Mr. McGrath prepared to close his village service station after listening to the 10 o’clock news.

The gunman burst into the premises brandishing his weapon and ordering the shopkeeper to hand over the contents of the till.

When Mr. McGrath refused, believing the gun to be imitation, he was shot through the neck.

Speaking to the Down Recorder at the time, Mr. McGrath said he did not immediately realise he had been injured.

“The gunman shouted at me and told me that I was going to die before taking up a firing position. I ducked out of the way and heard a loud bang as I fell away,” he said.

“The man ran out of the shop and I followed him, although at this stage I was unaware that I had been shot.”

Mr. McGrath and one of his sons attempted to chase the gunman in a car but were rammed by his vehicle as he fled.

Yesterday he recalled being almost immediately whisked to the Downe by an ambulance that was on the scene within minutes.

“The hospital had been told that I had been shot in the head and the neck, but it later emerged that the wounds were from the entry and exit of the same bullet,” he said.

“I do not remember much about arriving at the Downe but I know I was bleeding profusely and was seriously ill.”

Although Mr. McGrath took one year to recover from the attack, undergoing extensive physiotherapy to regain the feeling in his arm, he is convinced the emergency care at the Downe saved him from a premature death.

Hailed as a hero at the time, he now says he was probably more “stupid than heroic.”

“I just don’t like parting with money easy,” he jokes. “Some people put me down as stupid for attacking the gunman back.

“The incident affected me for a long time but I have put it out of my mind now. We have a very peaceful community around here and we are well supported by the local community.”

Mr. McGrath adds that he would never have lived to fight off the gunman if he had not been saved by the Downe when his appendix burst as a teenager.

Recalling being rushed to the local hospital by his own doctor for emergency surgery, he says he was later told he was not expected to survive.

In an added twist, his surgeon collapsed half way through his operation, and was replaced by a colleague who was called in from a match at Downpatrick Cricket Club.

It is both these stories, says Mr. McGrath, that prompted him to hire a bus on Saturday to fill it with several generations of his family and other hospital supporters.

“I have gone to every hospital rally over the years and this time around I could have filled an even bigger bus,” he said.

“I am very grateful to the Downe. We all are.”