Family of dying elderly Irishman in London found after online plea

The family of a dying Irishman in London have been traced after an online appeal reached them.

75-year-old Patrick John Mulligan (known to all as John) was rushed to hospital in London early this week; by his side were his neighbor Dave and his partner. As John’s life ebbed away Dave knew he had to alert the family but he had no idea who they were.

He knew his neighbor was from West Limerick and born in 1942. He asked Irish diaspora groups in Britain to help spread the word and see if the family could be contacted.

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Finders Ireland - a genealogy group - heard about the situation and decided to help.  

“We just thought we’d see if we could help,” Pauric Grennan from the organization told The Irish Post.

“[We] did some genealogy work on it and discovered that Patrick John Mulligan has a cousin in the west of Ireland. We spoke to him and discovered that Mr Mulligan has at least one half sibling still alive in Ireland.

“They’re really interested in getting to speak to Mr Mulligan.

“There’s a lot of family interest, and a lot of local interest in it. As normally happens in these situations, the community row in together and offer to help out. That’s what we find with the Irish community in Britain, even back home, they’re very supportive.”

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Now the family would like help tracing Dave in order to thank him for alerting them to John’s illness.