Nurse Who Worked to Save Lives of Victims from Colorado Shooting Drowns During Family Vacation

By Laura Pullman, DAILY MAIL

Credit: � Dignity Memorial

Jenny's husband Greg Pinson, left, says that he and his young son, Jack, are struggling to cope after Jenny's sudden death.

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    Just weeks after she treated victims of the Aurora massacre, Jennifer Gallagher, 46, drowned while on holiday with her husband and son, Jack, pictured here.

    (� Dignity Memorial)

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August 20, 2012 Updated Aug 20, 2012 at 11:05 AM PDT

A nurse has drowned just weeks after she helped save the lives of victims in the Aurora Batman massacre in Colorado.

Jennifer Gallagher, 46, of Denver, died earlier this month while she was on vacation in Iowa with her husband and her five-year-old son.
She went swimming in West Lake Okoboji the night of August 6 and was reported missing the next morning. A family member found her body in the water later that day; it is not clear how she got into difficulty while swimming.

Irish-born Gallagher was among the staff who met and were praised by President Barack Obama for saving the lives of many wounded in the random shootings.

As Denver rebuilds itself after the massacre, where 12 were killed and 58 were injured, Gallagher’s family are struggling to cope with their personal tragedy.

‘She was wonderful to our son Jack,’ Pinson told the Irish Herald. 'She loved him more than anything in the world. I admired her so much and loved her dearly. We're struggling to cope without her.'

Pinson said Gallagher had moved from County Meath, Ireland, to Colorado in the 1990s and studied to become a nurse.

Gallagher’s siblings flew over from Ireland for her funeral and a mass was held for the mother-of-one in Ireland.

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