Celtic evening a benefit for accident victim

Murphy’s Bar & Grill is throwing a shindig Jan. 11 to continue raising money for 19-year-old Erin O’Connor, the Irish girl who lost her legs after a car accident on the Big Island in September.

There has been an outpouring of community support for 19-year-old Erin O'Connor, who lost her legs after a car accident on the Big Island in September. Advertiser library photo

The young woman has been the center of an outpouring of community aloha since The Advertiser wrote about how her family had relocated halfway around the world to be at her bedside.

When her aunt, Cathy O’Connor from the Big Island, issued a plea for just a little help with relocation expenses after she was turned down by numerous Hawai‘i assistance agencies, hundreds of people sent checks and letters of hope to the family.

Erin’s parents, Jerry and Renee O’Connor, and their two other children flew from Ireland to be with Erin round-the-clock at Queen’s Medical Center. The teen is now undergoing daily therapy at the Rehabilitation Hospital of the Pacific.

The Irish community is coming together for "An Evening of Celtic Kokua" to continue fund-raising for what could be untold thousands of dollars in rehabilitation expenses. Her father plans to move the girl to Miami with the hope Erin can participate in the Miami Project and be aided by the latest research in nerve stimulation after paralysis.

As well as losing her legs, she is paralyzed below the waist.

The fund-raising evening at Murphy’s begins at 5:30 p.m. Jan. 11 with a $20 buffet of traditional Irish dishes, followed by entertainment from the Irish Hearts, Irish step-dancing, bagpipe music "and a few surprises," said spokesman Ray Sweeney.

Erin and her mother are expected to attend; her father flew to Miami last week to set up a home for the family there. He plans to sell the family carpentry business in Kinsale, Ireland, and relocate to Miami for as long as necessary.

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