Schoolboy dies in class after 9-year cancer battle
Thomas O’Sullivan became ill in Emly National School on Tuesday morning and passed away shortly afterwards.
The 13-year-old had spent much of his life confined to a wheelchair due to paralysis brought on by an aggressive brain tumour.
With the parents’ consent, teachers kept Thomas’s remains at the school for a short time to help his friends come to terms with his death.
The teenager, from Cromhil, Kilteely, Co Limerick, loved cars and bought two out of his communion and confirmation money — a BMW 325 and a Toyota Starlet.
His father, Patrick, said: “He loved cars. He knew he wasn’t able to drive them, but that was like a goal he had, to be able to hop into one and go wherever. He bought an old BMW 325 with his confirmation and communion money. He kept it all, about €4,000, just to buy that car.” Patrick took out the seats of the Starlet and used it to carry Thomas’s coffin to the church.
School principal Pauline Finnan said they were all devastated. “He was the most fantastic presence, there aren’t words to describe him. He was totally heroic, an inspiration.
“Even in dying, he gave us something. The fact that he was here afterwards really helped the children come to terms with it. I think it took away their fear.”
Thomas was waked in his Munster jersey and the coffin was laid out on the lower bunk bed he shared with his brother Colm.
Shelves on the bedroom wall were jammed with model Porches and BMWs. His mobile phone was still receiving texts before his removal to St Ailbe’s Church.
Thomas’s tumour was first diagnosed when he was four. His family was told there was little hope. Locals rallied round to send Thomas to the US when he was six for surgery which removed 75% of the tumour. But the cancer came back in 2003.
