The family of the three sisters and a seven-year-old boy who were left with critical and serious injuries after the horror crash on the M9 in the early hours of August 16, have issued a “heartfelt thank you” for the public support received.
Family friends also revealed that those left so badly injured have “a long, long recovery ahead”, and that the injuries suffered “may be life-alerting”.
Sisters Niamh and Alma Kinsella and Ella Hendricken, and Alma’s 7-year-old son were driving to Dublin Airport for a family wedding when a BMW carrying five teenagers drove at speed the wrong way down the motorway collided with their Hyundai at speed. All five teenagers were killed.
In an update to the Go Fund Me page set up to support the sisters and the little boy, a family member said: “We wanted to take a moment as a family to say a heartfelt thank you to every single person who has supported Ella, Niamh and Alma.”
“The kindness and generosity shown to our family has been truly overwhelming. From everyone who has donated, shared the fundraiser, sent messages, kept us in their thoughts or supported us in any way, please know how much it means to all of us.
Right now, our focus is completely on the girls and being together as a family. We aren’t ready to share any further details at this stage, and we really appreciate everyone continuing to respect our privacy.
What we did want to do was personally acknowledge the incredible support we’ve received. Seeing so many people come together for the girls has meant more to us than we could ever properly put into words.
Thank you for continuing to keep Ella, Niamh and Alma in your thoughts and for all the love and support you’ve shown our family.”
And a family friend told the Irish Mail On Sunday that the victims ‘have a long, long recovery ahead.’
“They have a long, long recovery ahead of them. One of them has spinal injuries and there are a lot of broken bones.. People are relieved none of them are in a brain specialist hospital so that means none of them are brain-damaged.”
“God forbid there’s a change. We think they will recover but how long that is going to take no one knows. Their injuries may be life-altering but to the extent they may be life-altering, well, no one knows that at the moment.”
The funeral of Jack Kennedy (17), one of five teenagers killed in the M9 crash took place today in Athy today. Alex McCarthy (16) and Joe Carthy (15) were buried on Friday, and Kamil Pustkowski (17) who was cremated the same day. The funeral of Jeremy O’Brien (18) took place yesterday.