Dillon Quirke’s legacy will ensure lives are saved
By Shane Brophy
The memory of Dillon Quirke has been secured with the creation of the Dillon Quirke Foundation.
The sudden passing of the Clonoulty/Rossmore clubman and Tipperary senior hurler on August 5th last, rocked the GAA to the core that a fit and healthy 24-year-old could be cut down in his prime.
As his family continue to grieve his loss, they have created a charity in his honour to raise money for Sudden Adult Death Syndrome (SADS) which takes 100 young lives in Ireland every year. The aim is to raise awareness and save lives by screening every GAA player both male and female from the age of 12 upwards.
So far, almost €45,000 has been raised in their target of €1 million, with a special game to take place between Tipperary and Kilkenny on February 19th, as part of the fundraising drive.
The Quirke family made the announcement as part of a touching and emotional interview in the Sunday Independent last Sunday.
In it, they confirmed that Dillon had an MRI scan on his heart the day before he died, after experiencing some “little moments” as his mother Hazel described them, in a game two weeks previous.
The inquest into his death has yet to take place but the family believe Dillon’s heart attack was a result on not recovering from myocarditis which he suffered in 2018 and kept him out of the game for a period of time.
“The electrics in his heart were destroyed,” his father Dan said, following consultations with medical experts.
“If Dillon had lived, he’d have been told by doctors which they results came back that he could never play sport again.
“It would have been a horrible lifestyle for him.”
Dillon’s sister Kellie added it: “would have killed him altogether,” if he was forced to stop playing, while his other sister Shannon said they wonder every day what could have been done to prevent this tragedy.
“When it happened, we were all asking ‘why?’ and ‘how could we have prevented it’? and ‘what could we have done’? But then I feel, when we got the results, we couldn’t have done anything. There was no preventing it.”
More on p age 54.