A woman who survived a car crash that killed her husband and children has planted a field of sunflowers near the tragic scene for their second anniversary.
Geraldine Mullan’s six-year-old daughter Amelia, son Tomas, 14, and husband John, 49, drowned after the family car plunged into Lough Foyle at Quigley’s Point in Co Donegal on August 20, 2020.
As their second anniversary nears, devastated Geraldine, 47, who was the only survivor of the horrific tragedy, has spoken of her heartbreak and said “love keeps me going”.
Read More: Brave nurse Geraldine Mullan reveals how she coped after devastating loss of family in crash
Two acres of sunflowers, which were her daughter Amelia’s favourite, have been planted by Geraldine near the crash site as a “field of hope”.
The sunflower field will be open to the public for the second anniversary of the tragedy.
Geraldine said: “For me, it’s bittersweet. To the right of the sunflowers is the scene where myself and John and the kids had our accident on that fateful night.
“On the left is a beautiful sea of yellow. It’s given me strength and courage to keep going.
“Myself [and friend Catherine Carlin] have been nurturing this field for the last six months and getting our hands dirty into the soil.
“We’ve created a maze within the field for hope. I keep mentioning that word hope.
“I always say never to lose hope and I look for a bit of hope each and every day.”
She added: “My heart will forever be broken, but the love and support that I’ve got from my friends and family and the wider community has enabled me to keep going, to keep putting one foot in front of the other.”
Catherine said that sunflowers turn to the sun when it is shining and they turn to each other when it is not.
She added: “Humans can learn a lot from that.”
The inspirational new project on a plot of farmland was created in the memory of John, Tomas and Amelia.
Geraldine, who is originally from Galway but lives in Moville in Inishowen, Co Donegal, revealed that John used to say “plant a seed and see what grows”.
It was these words that helped to start a conversation between Geraldine and Catherine and prompted them to approach local farmer John McCarron.
He agreed to plant sunflower seeds instead of growing barley on his two-and-a-half-acre field between the R238 and Lough Foyle.
Geraldine said: “This year, he let two ladies convince him to try something different.
“The field is just a few hundred metres from where that same water claimed my beautiful family on August 20, 2020.
“A memorial called Three Sleepers now stands in solemn commemoration at the scene.
“These majestic and eye-catching sunflowers are intended to bring hope in these much-needed times.
“My motto has been ‘never lose hope’ so when we thought of this project and named it accordingly, we wondered could we go a step further and have it physically expressed by the landscape.”
The horrific accident occurred as the family were driving home from a day out in Derry but tragedy struck when their car left the road.
Geraldine survived by standing on top of the vehicle before being rescued.
The big-hearted oncology nurse was on a week’s leave from Letterkenny University Hospital.
John was two weeks away from his 50 birthday and had taken time off from his garden centre business for the family to have time together.
Geraldine told mourners during the funeral at St Pius X Church in Moville that Amelia was in found in the arms of her big brother Tomas.
The Field of Hope is open from 12pm-5pm over August 19 to 21.
It is in conjunction with the Redcastle Village Association and the sunflower festival of the Mullan HOPE Centre, which Geraldine created after the tragedy.
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