Crooner Daniel wins new fans as he drops in to visit Tuam family

By Declan Tierney

It was the night Daniel O’Donnell came to town . . . literally. The country crooner arrived in Tuam last week and paid a visit to a very special family.

Several weeks earlier Caroline Heffernan made a call to an RTÉ radio programme explaining why she wanted Daniel to come to her house and perform.

Little did she realise that she would be the chosen one and when Caroline was informed that Daniel would be paying her a visit, she was over the moon with delight.

So much so that she invited friends, relations and neighbours to the once in a lifetime event and described it as “a wonderful occasion”.Caroline admits that she is a fan of Daniel but some of those she invited to her house for the occasion were less than enthusiastic.“But once they met him and saw him for what he really is, they were bowled over and it was incredible the transformation,” Caroline told The Connacht Tribune.

Caroline suffers from Cystic Fibrosis and has been an avid fund raiser for the cause over the years. Last July she did a parachute jump to raise funds for the establishment of a CF unit in University Hospital Galway and Mayo General Hospital.

She was listening to The Mooney Show on RTÉ 1 and there was a competition which invited listeners to give three reasons why they should have Daniel O’Donnell sing in their front room.

Of course Caroline could give plenty of reasons for this to happen having survived Cystic Fibrosis to the age of 40 and is still going strong.

“I told the programme that one of the reasons that I wanted Daniel to sing in my home was that I wanted to thank those who had helped me fund raise for Cystic Fibrosis over the years and show my appreciation of their efforts.

“I also wanted to raise awareness of Cystic Fibrosis and finally I wanted to have a second 40th birthday party because I wanted to celebrate the fact that I have outlived my life expectancy,” a determined Caroline added.

For more, read this week's Connacht Tribune.