Donation saves heart attack victim’s life

May 2009

KIND-HEARTED Annie Egan and her family put their hands in their pockets to provide funds for a life-saving operation on an Irish tourist who suffered a heart attack while attending a family wedding over in the Dominican Republic.

Born and bred in the Dominican Republic, Annie has lived in Wicklow Town for the past four years, and was immediately moved into action once she heard of the plight of Donna Vickers. Donna collapsed and suffered from a massive heart attack overseas. She didn’t have any travel insurance and the hospital refused to operate until €20,000 was provided. Annie and other family members provided the funds and Donna is now back home recovering at her Kilmartin Gardens home in Tallaght. But Annie actually seems embarrassed by the fuss her generosity has caused.

‘I know that if I was going through a similar ordeal over in Ireland someone would help me put as well. I just thought to myself, that poor woman is someone’s mum and I would hate anything like that to happen to my mum,’ she says modestly. The Dominican hospital requested €20,000 from the Vickers family before any operation would take place. Annie found the request an unusual one and was also worried about the image the hospital’s stance gave of her home country.

‘I think there was a lot of miscommunication. The hospital is Spanish, and asking for the money up front just didn’t sound right. It didn’t sound like a good thing for my country either.’

She got in touch with her mother, Dione, who runs a hospital, and her uncle Pedro Gonzalez, a heart surgeon in her home country. As a result Annie, Pedro, Dione, an Irish brother-in-law, Paul Egan, and other fundraisers set about providing the €20,000 required to operate on and then look after Donna.