Zoe wants to f ly back home with body of husband
‘She now has to plan a funeral’ ‘A friendly, warm guy, a gentleman’
IRISH bride Zoe Holohan wants to be released from hospital in Greece as soon as possible so she can accompany the body of her husband Brian O’ Callaghan Westro pp home.
It’s understood the distraught newlywed is waiting for doctors to give the go ahead for her to continue her treatment in Ireland.
Zoe will need skin grafts for some of the burn injuries she received in the Greek wildfires that claimed the life of her husband Brian, after they became separated in the inferno.
A close family friend said: ‘Zoe would like to return home as soon as possible with Brian. Arrangements are currently underway to take Brian home and naturally Zoe is anxious to leave Greece and continue and follow up treatment in Ireland,’ said the friend.
‘It’s horrific that she has to now begin to plan a funeral, just one week on from what was the happiest day of her life,’ the friend added.
Brian became separated from Zoe as they tried to escape the fires in the coastal town of Mati.
The pair got married at Clonabreany House, Kells in Co. Meath last Thursday before flying out to Greece on Saturday.
Ms Holohan, who works in advertising for the Sunday World, is in hospital after suffering burns to her head and hands. Yesterday, family friend, Fr Shay Casey, revealed how Brian’s death was the second tragedy to befall the family. His only brother, Colin, died in a motorbike accident in 1997 when he was just 21. His father also died many years ago.
Fr Casey, a chaplain at Athlone Institute of Technology, said Brian’s mother Rosemary had flown to Athens hoping to bring her son back to be buried in Killaloe, Co. Clare.
He described his death as ‘devastating’. He said Brian was ‘terribly outgoing, full of life and really enthusiastic for life.
‘If he saw somebody in need he wouldn’t be slow to help them. Just a very generous soul, that’s how they were reared,’ he told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland.
Fr Shay said he had spoken with Rosemary on Wednesday.
‘They had just found the body at that time. She rang me back to tell me they had found his body. She was heading to Athens to identify him and hoping to bring him back to be buried in Killaloe,’ he said.
‘I can’t imagine her waking up out there to this tragedy,’ he said, while asking for people to keep Rosemary in their prayers.
He’s described Brian as the kind of man whose presence was felt every time he entered a room.
‘They were two incredible young lads,’ Fr Shay said yesterday.
‘Rosemary was extraordinarily proud of them. It is heartbreaking. She is a very strong woman. It isn’t the first time Rosemary has stood at the foot of the Cross.’
Shannon Parish has announced that a book of condolence for Brian and his family will open this weekend, to allow people pay their respects.
The tragic groom was originally from Killaloe but lived in Dublin. Staff at the catering company, Ready Chef, where he worked, issued a statement yesterday saying staff were ‘distraught at the death of one of our own’.
The company described Brian as ‘a larger than life individual in both his personal and professional life’.
The statement said he was ‘many things to us, he was a friend and a mentor but most importantly he was a part of our family. He has always been someone who provided us with guidance, someone we looked up to and respected, and someone who has now left a gaping hole in the heart of our family.
‘Our thoughts are with his beloved wife Zoe, his mum Rosemary, his best mate Adrian and both of their extended families and friends.
‘We will mourn his passing but we will celebrate him in life by honouring the legacy he has left us with,’ it read.
Close friends of the couple, TV3 star Alan Hughes and his husband Karl Broderick, paid a poignant tribute to Brian who they described as a ‘gentleman’.
In a joint statement the couple, who attended Brian and Zoe’s wedding, said: ‘It felt odd to take to social media up to now, but it feels equally odd not to acknowledge and pay tribute to our lovely friend Zoe and her lovely husband Brian, who tragically lost his life in Greece.
‘A friendly, warm guy, ready with open arms for a bear hug, he was a gentleman.
‘We can’t believe it was this day last week that we shared in their beautiful wedding. Our hearts are breaking for Zoe... who’s such a beautiful person... and indeed for Brian’s Mother, their family and friends. Alan and Karl xxx’.
Funeral arrangements have yet to be announced but it is expected that Brian will be laid to rest in his family’s home town of Killaloe.