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Omagh wedding has touch of sadness

February 16, 2011

By Staff Reporter

BELFAST — On Saturday, Donna Marie Keyes and Gary McCallion embarked on a belated and bittersweet beginning together.

In a ceremony more than tinged with sadness, the couple were married at the Sacred Heart church in Omagh. They had been scheduled to wed the week after the Omagh bombing, which killed 29 people last Aug. 15. Among the victims was Breda Devine, who was to have been their flower girl.

Keyes and McCallion were injured in the blast. In fact, Keyes was not expected to survive. She suffered serious burns over 60 percent of her body. Her face will bear the scars of the tragedy forever, but she said Saturday marked the beginning of a new life.

Her fiance, McGillion, who was out shopping with her when the bomb went off, suffered third degree burns on 35 percent of his body. Breda, who was just 20 months old, was his niece. She and her mother, Tracey, who was also seriously injured, had been in Omagh looking for shoes for the wedding.

— Anne Cadwallader

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