Today in St. Thomas SNS we talked about an amazing young boy named Donal Walsh. He was diagnosed with cancer in 2008 when he was only 12 years old. In each class the teachers talked about him, telling students what had happened and how his family try to cope with his death. So today Ms. O’Shea asked Donal’s dad to come in and talk to us – his name is Finbarr. All 6th Class had an assembly and his dad stood at the top of the hall and spoke about Donal, his life and how he died. His dad said Donal had an extraordinary message to all young people and teenagers who were sad or who thought about taking their own lives, he said that if Donal could have chose to live he would would and that we should all live the best lives we can. He also told us about the importance of our friends and how Donal always spoke to his four close friends and how important our friends are in our lives.
by Molly Dingle (Room 14)
In 2008 Donal Walsh was diagnosed with cancer. The cancer started in his knee and he had to do chemo. The special thing about Donal was that he always wanted to stay positive about everything. Later on the doctors had to take out some of his lungs and they later found 6 or 7 tumours in his body. A few months before he died he appeared on the Saturday Night Show with Brendan O’Connor because a beautiful letter he wrote to his class had been published in the media. He died on the 12th May 2013. We were so moved and inspired by Donal’s dad Finbarr who came in to speak to us all.
Katelyn Sweeney (Room 14)
