From Plea to Progress: Eoghan’s Next Chapter

When I last wrote here, I shared Eoghan Gorman’s story. A young man whose life changed in an instant after a mountain biking accident, and who then faced the harsh reality of navigating a system that too often falls short.

That blog was a plea: for fairness, for dignity, and for solutions.

Today, I want to share something different: progress.

Eoghan has recently joined our team at Spinal Injuries Ireland as a Peer Mentor. In this role, he supports others living with spinal cord injuries sharing his lived experience, his resilience, and his determination. Already, he has become a vital source of encouragement to newly injured clients, showing them that they are not alone, that life after injury is still a life worth building.

Since starting with us, Eoghan has thrown himself into the role with energy and commitment. He has already taken part in hospital visits, supported newly injured clients, and shared his own lived experience in ways that have made a profound difference. The feedback from those he has mentored has been clear: hearing directly from someone who truly understands what they are going through is both powerful and deeply reassuring.

But Eoghan’s story is not an exception. It is the reason this programme exists.

Every year, around 200 people in Ireland sustain a life-changing spinal cord injury. Each of them faces the same fear, uncertainty, and overwhelming questions that Eoghan did when he left hospital. And every one of them deserves the chance to hear from someone who has been there – who can say, “I know this road, and I will walk it with you.”

That is the power of our Peer Mentorship Programme. It transforms isolation into belonging, despair into hope, and trauma into purpose.

The challenge? Demand already outstrips supply. Right now, our programme is only funded at a level that allows us to reach a fraction of those who need it. To ensure its sustainability, and to expand it so that every newly injured person in Ireland has access to peer support, we need your help.

This is my call for action.

We need partners, funders, and champions to stand with us.  To ensure that Eoghan, and others like him, can continue this life-changing work. Together, we can build a programme that not only helps people survive after injury, but truly live.

Eoghan’s journey has shown us what’s possible. Now let’s make sure it’s possible for everyone.

Fiona Bolger
CEO, Spinal Injuries Ireland