WHO knows what’s around the next corner? None of us.
All anyone can do is their best to meet the challenges that come their way. And they will come.
One minute you’re flying along, the next…
Jody Gormley was – and is – a picture of health at the age of 53. It seemed he was giving Old Father Time the slip the way he used to do to opponents when he played for his native Trillick and Tyrone.
A few months’ ago he felt unstoppable, invincible but then the finger of fate pointed his way and reminded him, and the rest of us, that we’re all ‘only’ human.
At that moment the things we assume our future holds – maybe walking your daughter down the aisle at her wedding or bouncing giggling grandchildren on your knee – suddenly don’t seem guaranteed and the things we worry about are put into stark perspective.
Jody worked out at least five times-a-week and lived a health-conscious lifestyle. His diet was good and as manager of Tyrone champions Trillick and a popular and well thought of PE teacher at the Abbey CBS in Newry, he was always active.
The Gormleys had been looking forward to their family holiday in Florida last summer, they arrived in Orlando, got settled into their hotel and all was good.
On the second day in Orlando, Jody and his son went to the gym. When his right arm became numb and unresponsive he knew something was wrong and his son quickly called his wife, a physio by profession.
She recognised the symptoms straight away
“You’re taking a stroke,” she said.
A what?!
A stroke.
“It wasn’t obvious to me, but to her it was obvious,” says Jody.
“That was it: BANG… Just like that, that’s the way it happened. Completely out of the blue.”
An ambulance was called, it arrived quickly and Jody was away to the Emergency Department.
“It’s not what I thought I’d experience when I went to Florida,” he says.
“It wasn’t what I signed up for.”
But there he was, in Orlando Regional Hospital, surrounded by patients and doctors and machines and wires…
The good news is that within an hour and-a-half he was sitting up in bed among the mayhem in the hospital having made a full recovery – both cognitive and physical. The healthy lifestyle he led played an absolutely crucial role in that.
“I didn’t require any medication,” he says.
“There was damage done by the stroke but I have been very fortunate in that it hasn’t manifested itself in any particular way.
“I feel myself again but you do think: ‘I’m doing as much right in terms of living a healthy lifestyle as anybody else and more than most’ and then, suddenly… You get the legs chopped from under you so it’s bit of a strange one.
“But it’s another challenge in life, isn’t it? You have to move on very quickly, there’s no room for self-pity. You take it on the chin and keep going.”
The doctors in Florida were unable to confirm what had happened. As his wife had feared it was a stroke. But why it had happened was unclear until Jody invested in some new technology after he returned home.
“What they think caused it was atrial fibrillation (an irregular heartbeat),” he explains.
“Originally they couldn’t find the cause for the stroke and that was a bit of a worry but when I got home my GP suggested I get an Apple watch so my heart was being monitored all the time.
“I got the watch and it picked the atrial fibrillation up within about 10 days. There is an issue there but it can be common enough. Since I’ve had it, I’ve spoken to other people in the same boat and they are on medication for it.
“I was unfortunate in that I had no symptoms and it wasn’t picked up. It causes blood clots and the blood clot can go to the brain and that’s what causes the stroke.”
Is there a lesson there for men of a certain age? Can you prevent these things? Should you go to the gym every day, or should never go at all? Should you double-up on the fruit and veg, or eat and drink whatever you fancy?
“You don’t know, it’s a lottery isn’t it?” says Jody.
“I’ve got plenty of friends who drink pints and eat greasy fries and move around at less than sprint speed and they’re in good health. But what certainly served me well was the fact that I was in pretty good condition. I can tell you that for sure.”
It’s an uncomfortable question to ask, but had he not been in such good shape… would we be talking now?
“We might not be,” he replies.
“In the hospital in Orlando they felt that the fact I was in such good condition had served me well.
“Up until I had the stroke I would have felt fairly invincible to be quite honest.
“It does make you question that a wee bit. Somebody said to me that you’re in ‘sniper’s alley’ in your 50s. You need to get through your 50s because things can come at you from all roads and directions.
“I’ve been fortunate and now it’s a matter of dealing with the challenges as they come along as best you can. That’s all you can do.”
HIS new watch has helped to explain the problem. But was there an underlying reason? Managing a senior football team in Tyrone is as demanding a job as it comes, even for a club legend whose deep reservoir of coaching experience that includes clubs in Down and Armagh, winning the Hogan Cup with the Abbey and the Tommy Murphy Cup with Antrim.
It’s nearly a four-hour round trip from his Belfast home to Trillick, so did managing Trillick to the county title last…
He cuts me off before I finish the question.
“There’s no stress being involved with Trillick,” he says.
“No stress at all.
“If you were to handpick a group of boys throughout Tyrone, or throughout the country you wouldn’t have better or more dedicated men. They truly are a special group.
“Every session is a joy and you leave training in great form. We have a plan for games, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t and we have to go back and plan better, but there’s no stress, in fact it’s the opposite.
“The culture of the club is so strong and so good that it’s always a good place to be.”
There’s an edge to his voice when he explains his philosophy and determination to kick on and leave the last few months behind him. Yes, he has a challenge to deal with, but life isn’t straightforward…
“Football mirrors life,” he says.
“We had players in Trillick last year who had to deal with significant injuries, with bereavement… “I’ve taken a stroke, it’s just another challenge.
“I think it teaches you to be resilient and that group in Trillick are very resilient and totally committed and dedicated to becoming better. They’ve got this idea of improving all the time and we’re all on the same page on that.
“We want to be the best we can, we want to get better all the time so it’s a really good environment to be involved in. The other thing is that the boys want to be there, they enjoy being in each other’s company so there’s a real positive energy in the group and that’s pretty unique.
“You know the All Blacks’ motto: ‘No Dickheads’? You could say that about us, the attitude is absolutely first class win, lose or draw.
“There’s a humbleness about them and that has been created by the players – the likes of Mattie and Richie Donnelly, Rory and Lee Brennan… They’re all good people who want to do well for the club and they’re great role models for the hunger players coming through.”
HAD he been manager of any other club but Trillick, he concedes he would “probably” have taken a step back for the rest of this season.
His playing career took him away to London and then to Bredagh in Belfast but the St Macartan’s outfit is in his blood. It’s where he learned the game that reached a peak when he played at midfield in the 1995 All-Ireland final and was one of only two Tyrone scorers (he got one point, Peter Canavan got the other 11) as Dublin sneaked over the line.
“One of the Trillick players was asked last year what it was like having me as manager and he said: ‘Well, Jody’s one of us’,” he said.
“That meant a lot to me. That’s something that’s lost when clubs bring in an outside man - there isn’t that real bond and connection.
“We all have the same cultural background, you know the history, you have the local knowledge because you’ve lived it. That’s very important because, when you’re talking to players you know exactly where they’ve come from, you almost know their genetic background! You know how important the club is to them and therefore it’s important that everything is done as best we can. That’s not something you’ll find everywhere.”
His daughter had to step in to taxi him up and down to training sessions for a while because he couldn’t drive after the stroke. He has missed a few here and there, which is different for him because he would previously have been ever-present…
“I haven’t been able to go to all the sessions,” he says
“I’m just not 100 per cent yet but the ironic thing is that whenever I am down there I feel great. It’s the old saying: ‘Tyrone by birth, Trillick by the grace of God’.
“I don’t miss too many sessions but we have good men in place and even though I’m not there all the time I’m still involved in the planning and the preparation. It’s a bit of a change for me because I wouldn’t have missed but the players understand and I don’t think it has impacted anything.
“We regard this (what he is going through) as one of the challenges and I think it has pulled us tighter together.”
THE Tyrone senior championship crown is notoriously difficult to hold onto. The last back-to-back winners were Carrickmore 20 years ago and since then eight different clubs have won the coveted O’Neill Cup.
This year’s semi-finalists are among the eight and Trillick and Dungannon (2020 champions) get the ball rolling on Friday night. Killyclogher and Errigal Ciaran (last year’s losing finalists) meet in the second semi on Sunday.
The Tyrone showpiece holds on defiantly to the knockout format and to the GAA’s sporting ideals, says Jody.
“Tyrone football is 100 miles-an-hour but there’s a high level of respect between management teams and players,” he explains.
“Definitely you go out and give your all but there’s a respect there for your opponents and that’s the way it should be.
“I think the football is played in the right way – obviously at times it can bubble-up a wee bit but you’d expect that and, in actual fact, you want that at times too. But at the end of the game you shake hands and walk off and that’s it. We’re still in the mix, the boys have worked exceptionally hard and I think we’ll be difficult to beat.
“I’m sure Dungannon will be thinking the same but it’s ‘Friday night lights’, bring it on.
“Last year nobody gave us a chance after all the injuries we had. I saw the betting list for this year and we were well down it so, despite what we do, we don’t seem to get the credit but that’s ok. We’ll go out and do our job on Friday night and see where it takes us.”
SINCE his stroke he’s had no shortage of well-wishers but many of them have also expressed shock.
Why him? Why not the guy waddling home with a Chinese after a day in the pub?
It’s all down to “the lottery of life”, says Jody.
“They’re questioning their own mortality, thinking: ‘There’s a man who looked after himself well… What chance have I got?’” he explains
“But it doesn’t work like that, the lottery of life can throw you up different cards at different times and you just have to deal with them.
“I think I’m just the same now as I always was. People say that when you have a major illness it can be life-changing but I think I was on a pretty good path anyway. I’m happy. Before I had the stroke I felt like I was on top of the world and I’m now making slight adjustments but I think I’m going the right way.
“We’re all going to face constant challenges and it’s about how you respond to them and deal with them – I’m certainly not going to sit around feeling sorry for myself.
“Gratitude would be a central part of my character and I’m grateful for my family and friends and I’m grateful to be involved with Trillick again.
“That hasn’t changed and it won’t change.”
Don’t change, keep at it. Do your best, enjoy life and give a bit back if you can.
Because nobody knows what’s around the next corner.
