A Community Garda has shared the reason she became a Little Blue Heroes volunteer.
Speaking to Humans Of Dublin, Eimear Cantwell told how her journey to volunteering began with one encounter in a lift.
“It was Halloween night. I walked through the hospital and jumped in the elevator. On the next floor, this little boy with a huge bandage over his head got into the elevator with his Mam. He looked at me and asked, ‘What are you doing here?’ I was like, ‘Well, I’m here to check on you! How are you doing?’ He said ‘I’m fine… but I don’t like the fireworks and the bangers. They’re too loud.’ So I said ‘You know what? I’m going to get a big bucket of water and I’m going to collect all the fireworks and put them in it.’ He laughed, and as we walked out of the elevator he asked me my name. I said ‘My name is Eimear!’
Eimear explained how she met the boy's mother a couple of weeks later.
"‘Are you Garda Eimear? You probably don’t remember but you met my son a few weeks ago in the elevator and he couldn’t stop talking about you ever since.’ I felt like I had to do something, to at least acknowledge him and show that I was thinking of him. When I told a sergeant he suggested that I make him an ‘Honorary Junior Garda’.
"So a few weeks later, this little fella was going around the hospital in a full custom-made Garda uniform with a hat and a badge. Unfortunately, he’s no longer with us. But he taught me a lot about the importance of being nice at all times. That little chat in the elevator had a huge impact; not only on him and his family but also on me. He gave me a reason to become one of the volunteers with Little Blue Heroes.”
Little Blue Heroes is a not-for-profit charity operated entirely by volunteers. It aims to help families who have children undergoing long-term medical treatment for serious illness.
