Trooper Shane Kearney, who was injured in a shooting in Lebanon last year where his colleague Private Sean Rooney was killed, will today undergo what is hoped to be his final operation.
The 23-year-old, from Killeagh in East Cork, suffered serious head injuries after the convoy he and his comrades were travelling in was targeted in December. Private Sean Rooney was fatally shot during the attack and two other colleagues were treated for minor injuries.
Following the attack, which occurred in the village of Al Aqbiyeh in South Lebanon, Trooper Kearney was flown from Beirut Airport to Dublin on a “specially equipped, contracted medical aircraft”. He was discharged from hospital in February but is returning to Beaumont Hospital today for cranioplasty surgery which will "hopefully be the final operation" he requires.
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The Defence Forces said in a statement today: "Trooper Shane Kearney is returning to Beaumont Hospital today, Wednesday 26 April, to continue with his medical treatment. Shane will undergo cranioplasty surgery which should hopefully be the final operation that he requires.
"Shane has been recovering at home in Cork for the past two months and has been making steady progress to date. All Shane's colleagues in the Defence Forces are thinking of him at this time and are wishing him a speedy recovery."
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