CONOR Murray has been overwhelmed by the messages of support he’s received after his four-month-old daughter Camille came through life-saving heart surgery in Dublin last weekend.
The Antrim senior footballer says their baby daughter was expected to be moved out of intensive care and into a ward yesterday before spending a couple of days in the Royal Victoria Hospital (RVH) for observation.
It is hoped the Murray family will be reunited at home towards the end of the week.
Conor and his wife Laura needed to live separately and self-isolate for fear of contracting Covid19 during Camille’s hospitalisation, while their three other children – Roma, Jude and Fiadh – stayed with relatives in Belfast.
One of Antrim’s leading footballers over the last decade, Murray says he has two ambitions: to bring Camille to a Lamh Dhearg or Antrim game and to spend a family holiday in Dunfanaghy, Co Donegal.
“My wife and I were actually speaking about this, hopefully when the pandemic ends we might get the end of the season, even in August, and Camille will be able to go to the matches because since she’s been born she hasn’t really been out of the house,” said the 31-year-old father-of-four.
“We’ll appreciate stuff a lot more, just walking around the Lamh Dhearg pitch with Camille in the pram, going into the clubrooms for a cup of tea, simple things. We just want all of us to be together as a family. We always go up to Dunfanaghy for the summer. All being well, we’ve a house booked for the end of August.”
For Camille to undergo life-saving surgery during a pandemic was a feat of incredible medical and human ingenuity as she had to be moved from the RVH in Belfast to Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital, Crumlin in Dublin.
Murray paid a heartfelt tribute to Dr Sands (RVH) and surgeon Nolke (Crumlin) and all the nursing staff who assisted in Camille’s treatment and care.
Earlier this year, Murray was at the forefront of Antrim’s NFL promotion push before the plug was pulled on the GAA season until further notice. Given Camille’s heart complications – known prior to her birth on December 11 2019 – surgery was scheduled before she reached six months.
“I must’ve received 500 text messages from people,” said Murray. “Everybody ended their message by saying: ‘If you need anything, just let me know.’
“On Twitter, there are boys I played against from Carlow, Limerick, Derry and Armagh wishing you all the best.
“When Camille was born, Lenny (Harbinson), Brendan (Trainor) and Fintan (Devlin) – the Antrim management team - made it as easy as possible for me in terms of missing the odd night at training.”
With four kids under the age of eight, Murray has no intentions of retiring from inter-county duty and says the lockdown has only made him more determined to play for as long as he can.
“I think when we all get back playing we’ll make the most of it. Laura was slagging me before Christmas: ‘You’ve four kids now, how many more years are you going to play county football?’
“And I was thinking this would be my last year. But after this pandemic, people will miss it that much… I’m going to play county football until I can’t play anymore. I’ll not be retiring any time soon. What’s the point?”
A teacher at Beechlawn Special Needs School in Hillsborough, Murray can’t predict when the GAA will return to action, but when they do, he feels the Association should make a huge deal of the club scene especially with the way many clubs have assisted their communities throughout the pandemic.
“Being at home for this length of time you really appreciate the dark winter nights’ running. I think when we get back to training it’ll give everybody a new lease of life, whether you’re playing, you’re a manager or a spectator. Whenever this does lift I think the GAA should make a big deal of the club and county championships, let’s do something different for one year only.”
