Terminally ill schoolboy angry about teen suicide
Donal Walsh, 16, concedes to having “no hope” of recovery and “having no say in his death sentence”.
But the Kerry teenager openly admitted his anger at young people who take their own lives and “leave behind a mess” for their families. Suicide in young people is an issue that angers him, he said.
“I never get scared. It’s nothing to do with the illness or dying that scares me. It does worry me to think what my family will be like afterwards.
“I realised that I was fighting for my life for the third time in four years and, this time, I have no hope,” he said of his most recent lung cancer diagnoses.
“Yet, still, I hear of young people committing suicide and I’m sorry but it makes me feel nothing but anger. I feel angry that these people choose to take their lives, to ruin their families and to leave behind a mess that no one can clean up.
“Yet I am here with no choice, trying as best I can to prepare my family and friends for what’s about to come and leave as little a mess as possible.
“I know that most of these people could be going through financial despair and have other problems in life but I am at the depths of despair and, believe me, there is a long way to go before you get to where I am.
“For these people, no matter how bad life gets, there are no reasons bad enough to make them do this — if they slept on it or looked for help they could find a solution and that they need to think of the consequences of what they are about to do.
“So please, as a 16-year-old who has no say in his death sentence; who has no choice in the pain he is about to cause and who would take any chance at even a few more months on this planet appreciate what you have, know that there are always other options and help is always there.”
Donal, from Blennerville, Tralee, is a talented rugby player and keen sportsman.
He spoke of his strong faith and indicated he did not have a sense of anger or unfairness about his condition — although he would “love to live longer”.
He is worried about the effect his death will have on his family.
The teenager has received chemotherapy and other treatments at Our Lady’s Hospital in Crumlin, and has raised €50,000 to assist improvements in some of the wards at the hospital.
His moving comments came after he was selected as the March winner of a Kerry local hero award, run in conjunction with the Kerry’s Eye newspaper and Radio Kerry.
He was nominated for the award by Ruairi O’Rahilly, his teacher at CBS The Green, Tralee.
Donal received the award in the presence of his parents Fionnbar and Elma.
Garda Supt Pat O’Sullivan, chairman of the judging panel, described Donal as “a unique and inspirational young man”.
“The example Donal continues to set through his courageous fight in the face of the most difficult personal circumstances, is what all of us aspire to. Quite simply, it is of heroic proportions.”
