A night for Steve in Aid of the Kevin Bell Trust

Steve's Story

Stephen Ryan (44) was a proud Irish man who was born and bred in suburbs of Artane, Dublin where he lived for most of his life. Stephen was an extremely popular individual who never took anything too serious and anytime you were in Steve’s company you were sure to be laughing before very long! He was just a total comedian. In 2007 Steve immigrated to the USA and established a beautiful life in San Francisco, where he lived very happily for many years. Steve has two beautiful daughters, Caela (12) and Madison (10) and the two girls were his absolute world. Whilst Stephen was proud of his new life in the US, he never forgot his Irish roots, he loved traditional Irish music and would listen to it all the time. He also stayed in contact with his friends and family back in Ireland and would visit whenever he could.

In November of 2023 Steve became ill quite suddenly which resulted in him being hospitalised.  Steve later developed sepsis which very sadly took Steve’s life on the 22nd of January 2024. Steve’s family and a number of his close friends from Ireland were lucky enough to spend a week with Steve before he passed away. Despite being gravely ill, Steve continued to crack jokes right up to the end of his life. This was Steve’s way of easing the suffering of those gathered around him.  Steve was a very determined person and generally achieved anything he set his mind to in life.  Steve faced death in precisely the same fashion and fought his illness with great courage and dignity to be around for his two girls. He fought right up to the point where it had become completely futile.

Realising and accepting this with great bravery, Steve summoned his Mother (Lorraine) and best friend (Chris) to his bedside to inform them that “it’s time” and began to express his final wishes. These wishes were as clear as they were important to Steve.

Steve's Three Final Wishes

Firstly, Steve wanted to wed his beloved fiancée Kim, whom Steve had proposed to in June of 2023. Steve wanted that to happen immediately and asked those gathered to organise that for him the very same day.

Secondly Steve wanted his body repatriated back to Dublin, Ireland, where he wished to be laid to rest with his father Alex Ryan (who had passed away some 12 years previous).

Most importantly Steve wanted to know that his two beautiful daughters Caela (12) and Madison (10) would be taken care of.

To honour his first wish, Steve’s best friend Chris registered as a ‘Non-denominational Minister’ with the State of California and was amazingly in a position to officiate at Steve & Kim’s marriage ceremony on his death bed, where he was surrounded by his loved ones. This was a truly incredible honour for Chris to make this happen for Steve.

The Kevin Bell Trust to honour his second wish, Steve’s family made contact with the Kevin Bell Trust. The Kevin Bell Repatriation Trust aims to alleviate the financial hardship of bereaved families repatriating the body (bodies) of loved one(s) who have died a broad in sudden or tragic circumstances back to Ireland. KBRT provides help in the form of financial support as well as advice and guidance on getting the remains of loved one’s home as soon as possible.  KBRT has amazingly repatriated more than 1600 Irish people since it was formed. The Kevin Bell Trust came through for Steve too and took care of all the administration and costs associated with bringing Steve home to Dublin. KBRT do this to take away as much stress as possible from a bereaved family, at an utterly heartbreaking time. “We will never forget what they did for Steve; it was truly incredible”. All the Kevin Bell Trust ask in return, is that you raise some funds for the next unfortunate family who may find themselves in the same harrowing position of having to bring a deceased loved one home. We fully intend to repay KBRT for their kindness and for ensuring one of Steve’s final wishes were observed.

Steve’s third and most important wish was that his friends and family always look out for his two girls, Caela and Madison. We have all promised Steve that we would collectively to do that for our brother. This will be our most important task now and into the future.

Vegas Night – ‘A Night for Steve’

To raise much needed funds for the Kevin Bell Trust, Steve’s friends and family will be hosting a Las Vegas themed Casino night (as Steve loved all things Las Vegas!). This event will (which will be a formal ware event, so dress to impress!!) take place on: Saturday the 29th of June 2024 (8pm – late) The Artane Beaumont Family Recreation Centre (ABFRC) Kilmore Road, Artane, D5.

There will be full sized Roulette tables and Wheels, full size card tables with options of Blackjack, 3 Card Poker, Caribbean Stud Poker, Bacarrat, fun interactive Croupiers at each table, casino chips, cards, dice, and music throughout the night with a fun MC. After the Casino fun ends, our DJ begins! There will also be finger food on the night and great opportunities to win some to win some fantastic prizes!!
Tickets  Tickets are €50 per person or €400 per table (if you would like to purchase a table for your entire group). All profits from this event will be donated directly to the Kevin Bell Trust. Tickets are available at the reception of the Artane Beaumont Family Recreation Centre (01- 8483911) Kilmore Road, Artane, Dublin 5, Monday – Friday 9-5pm and on Saturdays from 9pm-11pm in the top bar. Alternatively, you can contact us via one of our social media pages (under profile name ‘anightforsteve’). We look forward to seeing you on the night!!
Donations Any donations or sponsorship (cash or prizes) made towards this event would be hugely appreciated and ultimately will ensure that we can raise as much money as possible for the KBRT! Any sponsorship received will be publicised in our promotional material and on our social media channels. You will also be mentioned via any media channels that our event attracts.
You can donate by contacting us through our Facebook , Instagram or X pages or alternately
by email at anightforsteve@gmail.com or by contacting our Treasurer Sinéad Ryan on (086-3355900).