Latest news with #Emmet
Irish Independent
15-07-2025
- Health
- Irish Independent
Wicklow friends start fundraiser to help mum diagnosed with aggressive cancer
Alannah Fitzmaurice, known as AJ to her friends, was diagnosed with Synovial Sarcoma aged just 17. It is a rare type of soft tissue sarcoma and aggressive cancer, which Alannah had in her left thigh. She underwent successful surgery and radiation treatment, thanks to the early detection of her condition. In 2012, Alannah required further surgery to fuse the toes in her left foot, due to complications from drop foot, which prevented her from walking properly. This interrupted her nursing training and left her facing months of recovery. That was followed up in 2017 with an operation to have her ankle fused due to radiation damage from the treatment years earlier. Needing a fresh start, she and her husband Emmet moved to Australia, but in September last year she suffered another setback, again linked to past radiation. After surgery and ten months of recovery, she was finally back on her feet, only to be told that the surgery had failed. She now faces a major operation as she need a full hip and proximal femur replacement. Keen to support Alannah through this setback, her friends Aoife and Laura set up an online fundraiser through Explaining why, they said: 'This marks the third time in nine years that Alannah has had to stop working, reshaping her life entirely due to health setbacks. With no family support in Australia and another long recovery ahead, Alannah, Emmet, and their toddler Freddie have made the difficult decision to return home to Ireland. Emmet will become a full-time carer for Freddie and neither will be able to work for the foreseeable future.' The fundraising target of €20,000 is aimed at helping ease the financial burden of travel and relocation costs, medical and rehab expenses, loss of income and to support Freddie during the difficult transition. Aoife and Laura added: 'Alannah has always been the first to help others - as a nurse, a friend, and through her generous heart. Now, it's our turn to be there for her. Every donation, big or small, will make a meaningful difference for AJ, Emmet, and Freddie.'
The Herald
05-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Herald
Plot twists galore in page turner with disturbing subject matter
While a good author can often surprise the reader with one huge twist at the end of a book, it's unusual to come across a story where a twist catches you out almost every chapter. This is what John Boyne, author of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas , has achieved with his latest book, Air , from his series of element-themed novels. However, readers must be warned that this story, and the others in this series, could be extremely triggering for people who have suffered any form of sexual abuse. At the heart of the story is a long-distance journey being undertaken by a 40-year-old single dad, Aaron, and his 14-year-old son, Emmet. Initially we aren't told the reason for the journey by plane, train and boat, from Australia to an island off the coast of Ireland, but we do know it has to do with something that happened to Emmet's mother (Aaron's ex-wife) Rebecca. It is established early on that Aaron was sexually abused as a teenager, which has resulted in his struggles to form and maintain relationships as an adult. Now that Emmet is the same age that Aaron was when the incident happened, he is overprotective, wanting to ensure that nothing bad happens to his son. However, the father-son relationship is strained, as Emmet reacts to his father with sarcasm, eye rolls, and disobedience, resulting in sometimes tense and at other times, hilarious moments in the story. While the story is built around this journey and relationship, many chapters are flashbacks, where we get to understand what has happened in both Aaron and Rebecca's lives, how an author named Furia Flyte that Aaron seems to have a hatred for fits into the picture, and to get a clearer idea of what is going on in Emmet's life. But whenever you think you have it figured out, Boyne pulls the rug out from under you with another surprise revelation about either the present or past. Is the journey about revenge or redemption, why does Aaron dislike Furia so much, why does Emmet have almost naked photos of himself saved on his phone? All of these questions, and more, will be answered in surprising ways, making Air a book that you want to keep reading, despite the disturbing subject matter that is always hiding just under the surface. — This book is available from Exclusive Books for R365.
Sunday World
17-06-2025
- Sport
- Sunday World
Guard who ran five-hour marathon in uniform insists pain is nothing like what brave kids endure
Emmet Long's five-hour run raises €4K Garda Emmet Long caused a sensation at the recent Cork City marathon by running the entire 42km distance in his Garda trousers and shirt, which included his stab vest. 'I was training quite a while for it,' Emmet (35) tells the Sunday World . 'To be totally truthful, it was a steady enough pace I suppose, being so restricted in the uniform, but myself and my friend ran the whole lot together.' Emmet during the five-hour run He and pal Paul Keating were raising money as part of Little Blue Heroes for the children's cancer ward in Cork University Hospital. 'A colleague of mine unfortunately lost his son through cancer a number of years ago and he himself is heavily involved in the Little Blue Heroes,' he explains. 'I did set a personal challenge at the start of the year to complete a marathon anyway, but I work alongside him quite a bit and I just admire him in relation to how he is so involved and is such a gentleman. I was like 'you know what I'd love to give something back to him'. 'The money is going towards the families in the cancer ward in University College Hospital, to take them on a day out, all of the families together.' Emmet carried his four-year-old son for the last 100 metres of the race Father-of-one Emmet also carried his four-year-old son for the last 100 metres until he crossed the finish line. 'I just wanted to plant the seed for him as well, it's a nice thing to do. My son's mam was there as well to cheer us on,' he recalls. He says the marathon was gruelling, but he did prepare for it. 'My runs prior to it were good. I was training for a long period of time. I suppose the biggest issue with the uniform from the get-go was the extreme rise in body temperature. 'If you began to push along you'd feel it very quick and I just wanted to finish it for the cause, that was my main goal. Garda Emmet Long carries his son over the finish line of the Cork City marathon News in 90 Seconds - June 17 'I was hurting, but that only lasts a few hours for me, it lasts a lifetime for them. ' Garda management allowed Emmet to wear his uniform in the race, but he donned running trainers rather than the regulation shoes. He and Paul initially raised more than €2,000, but when the Garda Instagram and Facebook sites highlighted their achievement that rose to over €4,000. 'All of my colleagues were beyond supportive,' he says. 'It was amazing and all the members of the public. Some of them didn't realise I was running the race, they thought I was just tipping along with Paul, but I actually was. It was so positive from the get-go. 'There were loads of them around for the whole race and loads there at the end as well –the support was fantastic. Emmet during the five-hour run 'I'm the first guard to ever do it in the uniform. There have been firefighters and other public services I think, especially in the Army, lads have done it. ' Emmet, who is originally from Waterford city, is attached to the drugs unit in Togher Garda Station in Cork City. 'I was in the Army for over seven years and then I finished up the last three to four years in the Irish Aer Corps before going into the guards,' he says. At the age of 29 he joined the Guards in 2020. 'I have a number of very close friends who are well seasoned in the guards and I suppose they inspired me to take the paths that they had taken. 'I was always really into my fitness and the Army really promoted that for me,' he recalls. Standing at 5ft8ins and weighing 82kgs he is also a former bodybuilder. 'I have represented Ireland at a national and European level in bodybuilding and I was on the Irish bodybuilding team for over four years, and I went abroad representing Ireland in Europe. 'My last show was in 2019, I placed in the top 10 in the European championships in Santa Susanna in Spain, finishing eighth.' he reveals.
Irish Examiner
10-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Examiner
Book review: Novel goes to dark places but there is humour, empathy, and redemption
The final novel in the quartet of books from the author's Elements series works well as a standalone tale, even though the stories, which deal with abuse, are interlinked. This novel is testament to John Boyne's strong storytelling talent. He packs a lot in, given that the book is only 166 pages long. From maternal abandonment to the rape of a 14-year-old boy by an older woman, not to mention a litany of sexual abuse by a truly creepy character that makes a brief but nauseatingly memorable appearance in this compelling novel, Boyne manages to make this a satisfying read. It may sound depressing, and much of it is, but there is humour here, empathy, and most importantly, redemption. Air opens in Sydney Airport where a father, Aaron, is waiting to board a plane going to Dubai, en route to Dublin. He has only 'a recalcitrant teenage boy for company'. That's his son, Emmet. Aaron, who has just turned 40, is a child psychologist. That choice of career may be influenced by what happened to him when he was his son's age. The sexual abuse that was meted out to him by an accomplished doctor, Freya (who took advantage of a lot of young boys) has seen her imprisoned, but the damage lingers. Aaron's pain, coupled with his ex-wife Rebecca's sister taking her own life, means their marriage hadn't much of a chance. Aaron is mostly incapable of having sex. His son wonders why his father doesn't have a girlfriend — or a boyfriend, if that's his preference. In the meantime, Aaron, having spotted three semi-naked photos of Emmet on the teenager's own phone, wonders for whom the pictures were taken. Aaron has to try to find a way of talking to his son. This trip, which is a surprise visit to Rebecca, offers the opportunity for father and son to bond, or it could tear them further apart. As for the strained relations between Aaron and Rebecca, perhaps he should have listened to her mother Vanessa, who advised Aaron not to marry her daughter. When father and son land in Dubai, with a long wait for the connecting flight to Dublin, Emmet throws a strop. He seems resolute in refusing to travel any further and tells his dad to book him a hotel. Failing that, he'll sleep in the airport until it's time to return to Australia. What looks like a potentially interesting plot line is soon watered down when Emmet finally agrees to travel onwards with Aaron. It emerges that Emmet is actually a likeable young fellow. He may have slightly obnoxious tendencies but he is fond of his father. However, he is quite bitter towards his mother who left the family. Can the fissures be healed? At the heart of the marital breakdown is a novelist, Furia Flyte. Poor Aaron, who had his head turned by this attractive woman, recalls rocking up to her apartment where he declared his love for her, but she almost spat at him, saying he barely knew her. The premise of taking time to reflect while 30,000 feet in the air is rich in possibilities. On terra firma in Dublin, father and son make their way to Galway by train and then take a boat out to an island where Rebecca is staying with her partner. Towards the end of the narrative, Aaron announces that he is that 'thing' that Emmet talks about — the unreliable narrator. He didn't even accept that he was Freya's victim and thereby failed to give himself a chance to heal. But as Aaron looks out to sea, he declares that he will eventually be at one with himself — and with the elements. Read More Book review: Thrill and shame of the flame
