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Belfast Live
Belfast Live
National
Damien Edgar

Former MLA celebrating memory late daughter 'Teeny' who was "life and soul" of the house

From the depths of the tragedy of losing their sister Tierna 'Teeny' McMullan, her family in Cushendall are choosing to celebrate her memory as "the life and soul of the party".

Known throughout the Co Antrim village and well beyond its borders, 22-year-old Tierna sadly lost her life during Covid restrictions back in 2020.

It meant religious and familial gatherings were not an option and the family now want to reflect on the enormous impact that Tierna had on them all.

Read more: Tierna McMullan tributes as daughter of former East Antrim MLA dies aged just 22

The daughter of former MLA Oliver McMullan, Tierna's death was acknowledged at the time by both Michelle O'Neill and Arlene Foster, something that her brother Padraig says shows how loved she was.

Relatives and friends are coming together to raise funds for Belfast City Hospital's Level 10 Ward, where Tierna stayed during her illness, and for CLIC Sargent (Young Lives Vs Cancer).

The fundraisers will be held in the family business, McMullan's Central Bar in Cushendall, where Teeny would have ventured from time to time.

Speaking to Belfast Live, Padraig said: "Teeny was mischievous, had everybody wrapped round her wee finger and she knew how to work you.

"She loved getting out and we would take her down to the pub every so often and she was just the life and soul of the party.

"She was just some craic and she was known all over the country, everybody that met her, their heart would just melt and she'd have bought and sold you in five seconds.

"It's been a very tough two and a half years, she was the life and soul of the house and it ripped the heart out of the family and we do still struggle on a daily basis, but we thought this was the best way to remember her."

He continued: "We're having that a mass at 1pm on Saturday and then we've organised a few fundraisers - there's leg waxing with local lads and people can pay £10-20 to take a strip off them.

"We've world champion Irish dancers coming over to do a dance for us and we'll have music too.

"We'll have a raffle on the night but we've also been getting some great prizes coming in so we're going to do a ticketbook raffle and hold that in about three weeks."

For Padraig, his two brothers and father Oliver are set to face a more daunting fundraising prospect next month.

"We've a fundraising page and we're going to keep that open until November at least, as myself, my two brothers and my father are going to do a parachute jump, bearing in mind that my father's 70," he said.

"He's keen on it, one of my brothers is maybe a bit dubious about jumping out of a plane to be fair, but my father's mad keen on it.

"We're doing it for the two charities and we want to try and raise as much as we can. CLIC were very good to my mum at the time Tierna was in hospital."

Padraig added: "At that time with Covid, mummy was the only person in the whole hospital that was allowed to stay every night because obviously, Teeny needed assistance.

"CLIC Sargent across the road, would have allowed mum to come over and get a shower and something to eat and then go back across then."

Padraig, who works in London, but comes home at weekends to help with the bar, said he had more than 10 friends coming from there and others travelling up from Galway too, so well-loved was Tierna.

"It's going to be a great weekend and we're trying to just make it all about Teeny."

If you wish to donate to the fundraiser, you can do so here.

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