Hit-and-run victim gives child sight

Source: UTV News
A four-year-old child has been able to see for the first time, after receiving the donated corneas of a man killed in a hit-and-run crash in Co Tyrone - giving comfort to his parents.



The lives of seven people, many of them children, have been saved after Declan Quinn's family carried out his wishes and donated his organs.

"It is the greatest gift he has ever given. He was always a kind and thoughtful lad, a very deep thinker," his mum Veronica told UTV, adding that it made her "very humble" to know that he has helped a child to see for the first time.

The 37 year-old died after being struck by a hit-and-run driver on the Gortgonis Road in Coalisland on Saturday morning.

One child suffering from cancer received his liver, while the four-year-old girl - who was blind since birth - saw her parents for the first time on Wednesday morning.

Larry Quinn said his son's organ donation gave his family some comfort.

"It was his wish to donate his organs," he said. "It is a great comfort to us that his organs went to help other people, other children. To me part of him is still out there."

In the coming days, Declan Quinn will be buried beside his brother Damien who was killed in a motorbike accident in December 2005.

Police, who launched a murder investigation following Declan's death, have been given a further 36 hours to question a 21-year-old man.