DESCRIBED by his wife as a “warrior”, Colm McGoldrick fought his illness right up until last week when he travelled to London for additional treatment.
It wasn’t meant to be, however, when doctors gave Colm and Nicola news they weren’t expecting and the father-of-two passed away peacefully in hospital shortly after.
Colm was laid to rest on his 18th wedding anniversary at the new cemetery at St Naile’s Church, Kinawley near his childhood home of Drumroosk on Sunday.
He leaves behind his wife Nicola and their two children, Áine and Ronan; his parents Evelyn and Francie; sister Brenda and her husband Enda, and a wide family connection.
Speaking to the Herald, Nicola tried to encapsulate the spirit of the “driven and very determined” man who was her husband.
“The one word that has been used time and again over the past week is ‘determined’,” Nicola said, “Whether it was in business or dealing with his illness, Colm was determined.”
The 44-year-old, was Entrepreneur of the Year 2012.
In 2004, he started and grew Northern Ireland’s only cloud security business and later sold it to one of his international competitors, a Nasdaq-listed company but Nicola said “there was no ego”.
“Colm had the most incredible ability to bring people along with him,” she said, “He was the boss but people worked beside him and they all progressed together.”
And when asked where this wisdom came from, right away Nicola said: “It was all natural to him, that was just the type of person he wasNicola said Colm also got a lot of satisfaction from seeing other business people do well “especially if they were local, especially if they were start-ups”.
Although the couple both went to St Aidan’s High School in Derrylin and grew up a few miles apart, it wasn’t until they met again at university in Belfast that romance blossomed and within eight months, the Fermanagh couple were engaged.
“One of his well-used sayings was ‘when you know, you know’ and that’s how it was when we were dating,” Nicola said.
“Well we were always going to have to have a big family wedding because there was nothing Colm loved more than being surrounded by family, having a big gathering of friends and family, being around the people he loved.”
Two children, Áine and Ronan, followed and with the support of Nicola, Colm worked round the clock to make a success of his new business.
Around the time of the sale of Maildistiller in 2013, Colm received a shock cancer diagnosis but, because his expertise came as part of the sale of his company and he was now working for the owners, he continued to work from his hospital bed when he was admitted for treatment.
When he was given the welcome news that his cancer was in remission, Nicola says the family took every opportunity to live life and create memories and experiences for their family as in the years previous, Colm worked tirelessly in his business.
The cancer continued to affect his life and ultimately ended what was a very bright light in the business world and ended a very long, but all too short, journey for his family.
To read more on this story see this week’s Fermanagh Herald. Can’t get to the shop to collect your copy? No problem! You can download a copy straight to your device by following this link https://bit.ly/3gOl8G0
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