Sean Cox is set to start exoskeleton treatment to help him walk, his family have said, as he continues his recovery at home.
The Meath father-of-three suffered brain injuries in an unprovoked attack before a Liverpool game in 2018. Sean has since undergone extensive rehabilitation, and in 2022 he returned back to his home in Dunboyne in Meath, where he requires ongoing care from his wife Martina and family.
Speaking on Claire Byrne's RTE radio show this morning, Martina revealed they have revamped their house and built a gym in their back garden for Sean to exercise and do his therapy. She said: "In the gym we have all of Sean's equipment that he needs, physio equipment, his walking stick on wheels which is really good for him. There's also a framed Kenny Dalglish jersey that he sees whenever he is walking."
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Martina also recalled how she was at home in her kitchen almost five years ago on April 24, 2018 when the call came through that Sean had been rushed to hospital. She said: "I was here in the kitchen at home, it was just a normal Tuesday then I got the call and our lives just changed forever.
"We were told he was critical and the kids packed my bag because I wanted to go be with him. I didn't know what that word community meant until Sean's incident, they kind of wrapped themselves around me and I was talking to the kids and they said the house is full of food because there were people knocking on the door, that was just the start of the journey."
Martina described her husband Sean's recovery as an "ongoing marathon" right from the beginning. She said: "He had to be well enough to actually even fly home and then when he got to Beaumont Hospital it was like when can get him into the NRH (National Rehabilitation Hospital).
"That was another challenge trying to get him in, because there's a waiting list, so he was months in Beaumont Hospital before he even got to the NRH, and then you only get a certain amount of time there. So we made the decision to go to the UK because Sean needed so much more rehab and his time was up in Dublin unfortunately.
"We picked this place STEPS in Sheffield which was great because it also helped me because I was there 24/7 with Sean and I knew what I needed at home hence the gym out the back. I knew this is what he was going to need and thankfully he's still here."
Before his injuries, Sean was the chairman for Dunboyne GAA, and the club now even has a quiet corner in the club where he and his friends meet up. Sean's friend Fergus McNulty reflected on their friendship and described him as "extremely professional and hardworking" in his role at Dunboyne GAA, and that he was instrumental in growing the club.
Fergus said: "He was extremely focused on doing the right thing for everyone, in the weeks and months that followed there was a big dark cloud hanging over Dunboyne. The reaction beyond Dunboyne we still can't believe the level of empathy and support, how it touched a nerve far beyond knowing Sean and that still amazes me."
Fergus explained how they did a community run that June and that over 5,000 people turned up. He said: "The response at every single step was completely overwhelming, we had a Dublin vs Meath match for example and the level of support and empathy, and the way that Sean and Martina's situation, I'm still overwhelmed how people reacted.
"It would definitely restore your faith in the goodness of people." The fifth anniversary of Sean's attack is on Monday 24 April, and Sean's family who recently came back from a Liverpool match last week described the support that they have received as "amazing."
Sean is set to begin an exoskeleton therapy treatment on Friday. Martina explained what life is like now for the family almost five years on, and how Sean is becoming more social.
She said: "He's starting to like being out more socially. He went up to a rehab facility in Dunboyne and he actually met somebody that he knew, and they said his face just lit up.
"We hope to get up there and start one day a week to see how that goes, because they do a lot of different activities. It's just nice for him to do different things and be around people with similar disabilities as such."
When asked about the new exoskeleton treatment for Sean, Martina said that she thinks it will be "very good" for him. "We weren't sure that Sean was going to be suitable [for the treatment] but thankfully he is, I think it's going to be very good for him even psychologically seeing himself walking I think that's going to be really good for him and it'll help him."
Martina described how really experienced physios will be helping Sean with his new exoskeleton treatment to help him walk. "We're obviously jumping on the opportunity to get as many sessions as we can out of it.
"He's getting everything that we can physically give him here then he has his family around him, he's very settled and he has a routine which is good."
Sean Cox's inspirational story has also been told in a book written by his wife Martina called 'With Hope In Your Heart', which was released in 2020.
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