Chai Brady
Malachi Cush Chai Brady speaks to Malachi Cush about recovery, prayer and New Year hopes
Gaining consciousness and looking up at the sky after his body had been dragged and torn in an horrific event, a renowned Irish musician and broadcaster thought his time was up, but the prayers of the Faithful were on his side.
Malachi Cush from Donaghmore in Co. Tyrone started playing trad music as a child, and the creative spark never left him. He has gone on to release albums and has done work as a presenter for the BBC and other media for many years.
It was the summer of this year and working in the entertainment industry Malachi Cush generally has the day off on a Monday, and he wanted to do some work in the garden as it was a bright day and the weather was good.
It was a broken strimmer that made him decide to go to the hardware shop in Dungannon, run by a man called Andrew.
“I took the strimmer out, it wasn’t working and there was a few other things that I needed, so I went to the hardware shop, to get the strimmer licked up – see if I could give it a fix – and pick up some supplies,” Malachi told The Irish Catholic.
Investigation
After arriving at the shop and getting what he needed, shopkeeper Andrew was helping him to load some things into his car, there was no indication that something bad was about to happen. Although there is an ongoing police investigation, it’s believed a car that didn’t have it handbrake on silently built up speed, heading straight towards them.
Malachy says: “Obviously there was nobody in the car, it went off on its own, so we didn’t hear it or see it before it made the impact on my vehicle and obviously crushed the two of us.
“We were both thrown down the road. It was a perfectly beautiful day and everything seemed right in the world and then the next thing I ended up in the Royal Victoria hospital with many severe injuries.”
Andrew’s elbow was crushed. Malachi only woke up when he was being lifted into an ambulance. “I was pulled under the car and then thrown down the road so I ended up with multiple ligament breakages in the knee, they said it was almost like everything had ruptured inside the knee capsule, a broken bone now that would have been an easy fix but the knee is so complicated,” he says.
“I was also opened up across my chin and had 14 stitches around that area and a couple of teeth knocked out. I was torn down the back, and down the neck was completely torn where I was dragged. I was unconscious after the accident for a while, it was a pretty nasty injury and the recovery has been tough enough, the first surgery was pretty severe, I was in surgery between five and six hours.”
His wife Claire, who is a teacher, arrived at the scene and what she saw made her think of the worst, according to Malachi.
“Obviously at that point I was unconscious,” says Malachi, “and whenever I did come round I was being brought into the ambulance and I felt at that time when I was lying on the road on whatever sort of stretcher they had me on, all I could see was – and it’s so vivid – the blue sky coming towards me and the white clouds, it was a perfect day and I think at this stage ‘I’m in trouble here’, that I was really in a serious situation.”
It was then he felt he needed to speak to his wife, considering this may be a life or death moment.
“It struck me that I had to say something, and I had to say some things that I had to get out off my chest to my wife about what she meant to me, what my family meant to me, some of the things I don’t remember: but they were all good.
“I knew I wasn’t myself, I knew I was pretty banged up,” he adds.
Claire was praying in his ear. Malachi says that she has a devotion to St Thérèse of Lisieux, praying close to him: “little flower, at this hour, show your power.” This was not all the prayers he received, the community response to the incident was phenomenal, within an hour of the wording getting out about what happened to Malachi and Andrew there were many more prayers.
“You know, in our community I found out that afterwards there was Mass offered up within that hour, the schoolchildren in the school where she works, and I teach some music lessons, prayed for me. Even an art class paused for prayer for Andrew and myself, so there was a wave of prayer that started almost immediately in the community,” says Malachi.
Prayers
The prayers were instrumental in pulling him through the tragedy, he says: “I did feel there was some intervention of some description, the power of prayer, and then even into my recovery and through surgery the Mass cards that I received, the prayer intentions they just continued. I’m in no doubt I was given an extra chance to do whatever it is in this world, that I do know what that is but I’m convinced of it and so is my wife.
“She was there and witnessed how bad I was and Claire says for sure, because she was prepared for the worst.”
Claire was with him through thick and thin, and is an example of the power of the Sacrament of Marriage, Malachi says.
“I can’t thank her enough for what she did, she did everything for me, here support for me was next to none. It really was a test of our marriage vows – through sickness and health. Claire did everything for me, she was there when I was in theatre and when I woke up, she took care of my hygiene, something you wouldn’t expect to have to do at our age, but she did.”
After his surgery Malachi’s leg swelled from his hip to his toe, and was extremely painful, he was in fear that it may have to be removed completely, saying: It was a scary time, there was some fear. In your head your thinking, ‘you could lose your leg’.”
{{I attend the Royal hospital once a week and I go back in January to complete the reconstruction of the leg”
The doctors recommended the areas to be massaged to help with the swelling and healing, which his family dutifully did when he was recovering at home. Malachi said the support he received from both his and Claire’s family was exceptional.
“I’m in the midst of recovery,” says Malachi, “I have another surgery in January. I attend the Royal hospital once a week and I go back in January to complete the reconstruction of the leg, so it’s an ongoing process.”
At the moment, he’s not looking too far past his surgery this month, but after that there may be some broadcasting and music writing on the cards. “I think I’m going to do another album when I get back to full health, that’s an important one for me,” he says.
On Christmas day Malachi always sings in church, and this year is no exception, saying that it’s something that he’s always done. Christmas for Malachi is unsurprisingly a musical one, considering his upbringing and trade.
He says: “The main tradition is to get to Mass, I love singing in the chapel on a Christmas morning. That’s the important business done and then I can relax and enjoy the festivities of the day.”
{{For me there’s an end point, thank God there is, I can see next Christmas I should be almost back to myself”
Malachi and his wife settled in the village of Donaghmore, where he was born and raised, and they built a house on family land. “Although I travelled a lot in my career – my career has taken me all over the place – but I’m still an Irish boy, still a home boy, I still like the comforts of my family and friends and the community where I come from,” says Malachi.
“When you’re married you have different in-laws and what have you, and people have to go to different areas, but on a Saturday after Christmas day we’ll get together and we’ll have a gathering in the house and raise a glass to a year that has passed, and we have some songs around the piano, we have a little parcel of simple gifts that my wife and I gather and people can get a little gift each they can bring home.”
Despite enjoying Christmas and a New Year, it probably won’t be until next Christmas that he’ll recover to his full health.
“I walk with the aid of a brace on my leg, obviously with the ligament damage in the nucleus of the knee. The knee isn’t stable so that’s what the next surgery is, to stabilise it,” Malachi explains.
“So I get about with the aid of a brace, sometimes I use just a crutch to give me support. You get the pair of jeans or the pair of trousers just a size bigger just so you can pull them over the brace. But I’m very grateful to have my other leg.”
Respect
Attending a rehab centre for his injury, Malachi has seen people in tough situations, giving him a newfound respect for those with disabilities and the struggles they go through in daily life – activities that many people wouldn’t spare a thought about are veritable mountains for others.
“When I was in the rehab centre in Belfast, you’d be looking at other people, and there was a lady there learning to walk with the aid of a prosthetic leg and it gives you a new perspective on people who are living with a disability.
“I got a whole new perception on accessibility, of how challenging it can be and I have a newfound respect for those in our society who struggle through with their own challenges.
I love singing in the chapel on a Christmas morning. That’s the important business done”
“I know that I will mend eventually, I’m looking at this surgery in January, a few months in crutches again after that – get back into rehab.
“But for me there’s an end point, thank God there is, I can see next Christmas I should be almost back to myself and I’m grateful.”
Although Malachi has suffered a storm, through the prayers of a community, the actions of a wife who stood by him, loving family, he was able to weather it, saying that next Christmas: “I’ll be singing that bit harder on Christmas day!”