Community's cherished phonebox with a life-saving secret
The family of a 54-year-old man from Julianstown who died from a heart attack is holding a truck run to fundraise for an Automated External Defibrillator (AED) in the community in memory of the dad of three.
John Tully passed away suddenly in his bed in 2017 when his wife Sandra was in the kitchen making him a cup of tea. Soon after he died Sandra, son’s Andrew and Conor (22)and JP (30) put plans in motion to hold a truck run to raise money for an AED where they live so that the locality could avail of the life-saving piece of equipment and pay tribute to the much-loved dad.
The truck driver had a massive heart attack but no forewarning signs were apparent in the lead up to the tragic event. Andrew says his dad was in good spirits just minutes before he died sharing a joke with his wife Sandra on whose turn it was to make a brew that morning.
“Mam went to make him the tea and when she came back down to the bedroom he was gone. She is trained for CPR because of her job and she did compressions while I rang the ambulance. When the ambulance arrived they tried to resuscitate him but it was too late.”
Andrew and mum Sandra outside the vintage phonebox in memory of John Tully
It was only after John died that the Tully family realised how important having access to a defibrillator nearby is.
“Before we decided to do the truck run my mam said that she wanted to by an AED just for the house due to the shock of the whole thing and dad passing away so suddenly. We always knew there was an AED in Julianstown and one in Duleek but we live smack bang in the middle of two of them so we didn’t realise how much time it actually takes to get to either one of them, to collect it and also get back to the site to perform CPR.
“So we said, why don’t we do the two together, he devoted his life to trucks. It was in his blood. it’s the tradition that when one retires or passes away you do a truck run to honour them so we decided to raise the money and get the AED from that. That way the money would be raised by the locals providing the AED for the locals. Through donations and sponsorship, we raised enough money to purchase an AED and the old Irish telephone box which has since made our area heart safe.”
The phone box is now a local feature in Julianstown placed in a quaint old Irish phone box outside their house, a nod to an ongoing joke between John and his wife Sandra as son Andrew explains.
“My mam never had credit on her phone and dad would say why didn’t you ring me today and she’d reply ‘sure I’ve no credit how am I supposed to ring you,’ and he’d say ‘there are public phone boxes you know.’ She’d start laughing and say they are gone with the Indians, John. Anywhere he’d go then he’d point out these public phoneboxes so we got an old Irish phonebox custom made and housed the AED inside it.
“It draws a lot of attention, people will stop and take photos at it. It’s a permanent reminder of my dad.”
The unique feature outside the Tully home attracts a lot of attention from bypassers
Andrew still feels the loss of his father every day,
“He was a gentle giant, he would always put everyone before himself. He was a hard worker and worked for everything he had. He was the funniest person I knew he’d light up a room with his jokes and one-liners. There are certain things I would always ask for his help with and sometimes even now I’ll think, I’ll ask dad but then it hits home that I can’t.
“This year we are holding the truck run again on the 29th June (Saturday) at 1 pm where the trucks will depart and head up the M1 to Airways Industrial Estate and then return to the house for hot food, a full bar and live music till late.”
All money raised this year will go towards buying another AED for the local area and also into donating money towards Bryan ‘Bru’ from Drogheda, a young boy who is in need of medical treatment in the UK.
Tickets for the John Tully Memorial Truck Run 2019 can be bought on Eventbrite or text 085 2049401 for more information/