Tributes paid to brave Brian
A send off fit for a hero is being planned by family and friends of retired firefighter Brian MacDonald who battled motor neurone disease.
Although only close family will be able to attend the 43-year-old’s funeral at St Columba’s Cathedral in Oban on Monday. A big turn-out, including uniformed former colleagues, is expected along the route of his last journey through the town.
A fire engine will lead the funeral procession from the cathedral on the esplanade through the town up to the fire station and then back through Oban before heading to Cardross Crematorium. Mass for Brian starts at 10am.
Diagnosed 17 months ago with the muscle-wasting condition MND, he was with family when he had a heart attack and died on July 15. He was leaving Lorn & Islands Hospital after a few days stay when he took ill in the car park and had to be rushed into A&E.
His brother John Bruce MacDonald and sister Tia MacDonald, who were both with him when he passed away, led the tributes.
‘A diagnosis of MND would destroy and break most people, but not Brian. He kept his smile and humour until the very end. He still had all the patter and banter. You could never meet a stronger guy. He made a huge impact on anyone he met. Just a minute in Brian’s company and you’d go away feeling you’d known him for years. He had a heart of gold and would go the extra mile to help anyone,’ said John Bruce.
And Tia added: ‘Although he was only 43, he must’ve lived his life many times. Everyone has a story to share about him and that’s what is keeping us going right now.’
Brian’s family also thanked his ‘first-class’ private care team and MND nurse Kitty Millar for their support.
More than 1,000 people responded to the family’s Facebook post to remember Brian’s smile, charm, strength and courage.
Family friend George Berry who fundraised more than £2,000 last year to help Brian live life to the full, said the world had lost one of its good guys.
He said: ‘He was such a great guy, a good guy, a peace-loving man, a gentleman through and through, who will never leave my memory. The world is a lesser place without him. I wish he’d been given more time and beaten this cursed illness.
Brian’s diagnosis forced him to take early retirement this year after 13 years saving lives from fires in Glasgow. It was only when he started struggling to pull himself into the driving seat of a fire engine that he went off sick and got help from a neurologist.
He came home to Oban last August to be with family.
Brian had been hoping to take part in the largest ever pioneering clinical trial of drugs tackling motor neurone disease, but Covid halted it. He had signed up with the likes of rugby legend Doddie Weir.
In an interview in April, Brian told The Oban Times his condition was deteriorating and he had been recording a voice bank funded by the Fire Fighters Charity because losing his voice and sense of humour would be his ‘worst case scenario’.
During his career in Glasgow, he attended some of the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service’s biggest incidents. He was part of the emergency response sent to the Clutha bar on November 29, 2013, after a police helicopter plummeted through its roof, killing seven people and all three crew members.
He also responded to the George Square bin lorry crash in December 2014 which killed six and injured 15 others just days before Christmas.
He said at his retirement ceremony at Oban Fire Station in January that being a firefighter was ‘the best job in the world’. The fire service was a huge part of his life, with over 164 years of service from members of his family, including his dad, brother, uncle and cousins.
Chief Officer of the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service Martin Blunden said: ‘Brian was a unique individual – a real connector of people, truly passionate about being a firefighter and above all, a family man.’
‘He kept his smile and humour until the very end. He made a huge impact on anyone he met. You could never meet a stronger guy.’