Family of County Down man who died after being stung by a wasp in fundraising tribute to service that tried to save him

​And the family of Eamonn Hogan have also urged anyone who has a known allergy to carry an EpiPen as it could save their life.

It was just over one year ago (13th June 2023) when Eamonn, from Kilcoo, collected his youngest daughter Alexandra from school and started the drive home only for tragedy to strike.

Eamonn was stung by a wasp and unbeknown to him, had a severe allergy which caused him to go into anaphylactic shock.

Eamonn pulled over as he knew something was wrong and got out of his van but immediately collapsed.

His brave daughter Alexandra used her dad’s phone to call family and was soon connected via 999, to ambulance control who stayed on the line and dispatched an emergency ambulance and the Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS) team by air ambulance.

Importantly, by-standers were able to provide CPR on Eamonn until the arrival of emergency services.

Sadly, despite all best efforts, Eamonn died in hospital two days later on 15th June.

To mark one year from the date of the accident, Eamonn’s family members visited the Air Ambulance, to see the helicopter and meet with the one of the pilots.

Eamonn’s wife, Corrina said, “We lost Eamonn so suddenly, it’s been a very difficult year. We are grateful that Eamonn had every possible chance and that me and our four children had a little time at hospital to be with him to say goodbye.

"Eamonn didn’t know that he had a wasp/bee sting allergy; we would also like to encourage anyone who has a known allergy to carry your EpiPen as this can be the difference between life and death.”

The family presented the charity with £1,000 raised in Eamonn’s memory. Corrina would particularly like to thank her colleagues at Make the Call, Department for Communities for raising a lot of this money.

She would also like to thank the bystanders who stopped to provide care and to all of the emergency services and staff in ICU for their compassion, dignity and vital care.

Kerry Anderson, Air Ambulance Head of Fundraising, said, “It was lovely to meet with the Hogan family and our heartfelt thoughts continue to be with them, wishing them strength in their grief.

"We are all humbled that they have been able to think of others, giving hope to a future patient and family who need the services of Air Ambulance.

"It is only with continued support that the charity is able to play its part in sustaining this service, with a fundraising need of almost £7,000 every day. We would like to thank everyone who contributed in Eamonn’s memory for their kindness.”