Telling his story helps survivor Mike rebuild life

Lifestyle – Judy Murphy meets Mike Gibbons who nine years ago was in a helicopter crash that left his best friends dead
On a sunny July morning nine years ago, Mike Gibbons and his friends, Mark Reilly and Damien Bergin, were on top of the world as they embarked on a flight to Galway City from Waterford.
The three, with Castleblakeney man Damien at the controls, had flown to the Munster city by helicopter the previous day to see the launch of the world-renowned Tall Ships Race. They had hoped to view the ships from the air that Saturday morning, but poor visibility locally meant they couldn’t. So they set off for home, where Mark’s three children were waiting for him to join them to celebrate his 49th birthday.
Damien had checked the weather at Galway Airport, and it was good. A few hours later, Mark and Damien were dead, and Mike was critically injured, after the helicopter flew into cloud at Derrybrien, in the Sliabh Aughty Mountains. Damien attempted to fly through the dense mist – as he had been taught during training – but the single-engine helicopter was flying over a giant wind farm with 71 turbines, which were spaced about 225 metres apart. Disaster struck when the helicopter clipped one of the 49-metre-high windmills and crashed from the sky into dense forest.
Damien, who survived for several hours after the crash, had the presence of mind to call for help, although the site made it almost impossible for emergency services to reach them. The three were airlifted to UHG, by which time Mark – who had been in the rear seat – was dead.
Damien died shortly afterwards. That Mike emerged from the horrific crash still alive, although badly injured, was extraordinary and for years he didn’t discuss what had happened, not wanting to be known as “the man who survived the helicopter crash”.
However, another tumultuous event in his family led him to change his mind.
Six years ago Mike’s niece Ciara Brown was born, but this joyful occasion was tempered by the fact that her lower limbs had not developed while she was in the womb. For this beautiful, lively child to be able to walk properly, she needed specialised prosthetic limbs. These legs, which have to be changed as she grows, are not available in Ireland, and require Ciara to travel to Florida twice a year.
She is the apple of Mike’s eye and he decided to pen his story of the crash and its aftermath, to help raise funds for her treatment. The result is Survivor, a raw, honest book that’s not just about the helicopter crash, and that’s as life-affirming as it is sad.
In it, Mike documents his childhood in Galway’s Westside, including a period in the now demolished Rahoon flats – and his schooldays in the Bish (St Joseph’s College, Nun’s Island) where his entrepreneurial nature first came to the fore. He had a lucrative sideline running school discos with a fellow student. Mike and his two sisters, Karen and Norrie were reared by their mother, Carmel, after her marriage broke up.
Carmel is an immensely strong woman, and, with his sisters, played a vital role in his recovery from the crash, he says. Women are central to his story and it’s obvious that he and Damien enjoyed a good social life in Galway and further afield, even when money was tight.
For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.