Noah McAleese Ballymoney: Tragic farm accident toddler 'knew above all that he was loved'

Two-year-old Noah Che McAleese died in an accident at a farm on the Bravallen Road area of Ballymoney on Friday night.

He is survived by his parents Johnny and Corrina and brother Cohen and is the grandson of Seamus and Betty and Kieran and the late Rosemary Cassidy.

A funeral mass was celebrated for him yesterday in St Joseph’s Church, Dunloy.

The circular chapel was so full that around a hundred people could not find seats and stood behind the back row, encircling the entire congregation.

Parish Priest Fr Darren Brennan offered a heartfelt homily to the family, saying that on behalf of all present "all we have to offer you and our prayers and our presence".

Reflecting on Noah's personality, he said: "Boy, did he bring a lot of love and a lot of joy into your lives. Noah was a wee character.

"You can see it in that photograph [in the chapel] and in the many beautiful photographs and videos that you have. He dominated the scene".

He "loved laughing and giggling" to his favourite television programmes and when he had finished with them, he would go "all around the house, running riot".

His favorite place was "up in his beloved farm... where he spent so many happy days".

"He would run into the kitchen straight to the cupboard without being asked - and without asking - and pull out the treats and take some for himself - and some for any wee child that was with him.

"He knew what he wanted but above all he knew he was loved. He knew what love was. He knew what love is - what joy is - and so did you."

"And now that joy, those hopes and those dreams lie shattered. It's left to you to pick up the pieces and you're facing very difficult dark days, weeks and months.

"And in that darkness you can feel confused. You can wonder where do you go with this? Who do you turn to?"

He suggested several avenues for the family to seek comfort and direction.

"The first is right around you ... your family - The McAleese and Cassidy families are wonderful, wonderful families."

He added: "Your neighbours have stepped in amazingly, to provide support to the wider family and of course, the wider community here in Dunloy and Balmoney and right across the whole area.”

He cited the gospel record of 'great mourning' in Rama, when the city refused to be comforted after Herod wiped out all the infants.

The scriptures "don't offer any equation to make sense of it" but what they do give, he said, is a promise.

"And that promise is that death will not and does not have the last word. Death is not the end.

"For wee Noah Che cannot, does not end in tragedy. Christ Jesus says that through faith in baptism whoever lives and believes in him will never die. And even if he dies, he will live."

He added: "You are going to get through this but above all with the gentle, beautiful light of Noah's life that still shines waiting for you one day to come to Him."