LAOIS REVIEW 2022: A busy year for Aisling Donoher

Laois football star and Do it for Dan mam Aisling Donoher took time out from a hectic week of celebrations following the Laois Ladies her All Ireland win to chat to the Leinster Express about her team achievement and how little Dan is doing these days.

“It’s been such a whirlwind. Every day I’m just trying to embrace it and enjoy it and soak it all in," Aisling said.

Winning the Intermediate championships was “unbelievable” said Aisling, who was awarded Player of the Match by TG4.

“I’ve been so fortunate to be playing with this group of girls. They’re an extremely special group of players. To be able to win alongside those, it was magical,” she said.

A former county player, she returned to the Laois team six months ago when baby Sophie was six months old, at the request of Donie Brennan team manager.

"He first asked me long before I had Sophie, but it just wasn’t the right time for me. I wasn’t in a very happy place. That was two years ago and then last year after I had Sophie he made the call again. It wasn’t something I had considered at all. It wasn’t that I decided ‘I’m going to do this’, it was more that Donie believed in me and thought there was something there. After speaking to my husband and family I decided, sure why not."

The family support has been pivotal in her success.

“Niall alone is the most selfless person I have ever met. He’s incredible and he has been the driving force behind me going back playing for Laois, along with my family and Niall’s family. They’ve all had a huge part to play.

"At the start of the week we would set out what nights we are both training and what nights we need, ‘my mam, your mam, my sister, your sister’, and we schedule in the week. So yes, both our families have been a massive help and really made it possible for me to go back or I couldn’t have played this year."

Niall plays with Courtwood GAA. Aisling’s club is Timahoe.

“I think I was about 9 when I joined. I loved it, football has been my whole life. In our house we have such a GAA family as does Niall. Brendan and Niall were fierce good friends growing up. They played underage and minor together and Donie would have been on that team as well. We would travel to all the matches and be a real GAA family. So it was always there."

Dan is now three years old and doing extraordinarily well despite his life limiting condition, type 1 SMA (Spinal Muscular Atrophy).

The little star of the Do it For Dan campaign in 2020 inspired Ireland to donate €3.5 million for life-saving treatment in the US that heartbreakingly had to be shelved after a test showed it would not benefit him. The couple gave part of the fund to other children in Ireland and kept some saved if any future treatment for Dan is developed.

He gets a different medication in Tallaght children’s hospital three times a year that gives him some muscle control, with daily medications at home too. He is doing really well.

“Everything is going well. Nothing has got worse in the last year. He’s a little dote. He got a treatment about two weeks before the final so I was so happy to have that done and it all went really well. He found this one particularly tough. But it’s going good and it’s done now until November.

“They all know him now in the hospital, they say hi Dan, and isn’t he getting big, and that’s lovely. They’re very good to him. We actually love Tallaght because of the personal touch. The other kids hospitals are quite big.

“Everyone has a soft spot for Dan. I think the whole county has. He’s precious and a very special little boy.

"He is by all means defying all the odds. Nobody knows what’s around the corner, for any of us. But Dan definitely gives everyone hope and strength. You see Dan you light up inside or something, there’s something about Dan. And I think everyone gets that same feeling. He’s just a very special little fella.

"He wasn’t really given any milestones to meet. They thought in the best case scenario, he could possibly sit unaided for a couple of seconds.

“When Dan started treatment he couldn’t open up his hands, or turn or turn his head. He couldn’t move to be honest. Now he can wave his hands, he can turn pages of a hardback book, he can look left and right, he can sit on a little chair though we could never leave him unattended, he would fall over. He is starting to lift up his head when we place him on his tummy.

"He has no speech, but we kind of know by his eyes what he wants. When you know him so well you know what he likes. He just loves being outside, going for walks and little drives. He comes to a lot of the matches, mine and Niall’s, going down the farm and on the tractor with Niall."

Dan is special to the Laois team too.

“He really is like a team mascot. The girls just really embraced him. He’s been at some of the training with me. They would always be mad about him, very good to him all year. It actually made it really special for me as well because I had to focus on him all year. It was lovely, it was very memorable." Aisling said.

Dan is also sporting a cool curly hairstyle lately.

"He's like a young lad going around with his trendy haircut, he gets it done every few weeks and loves getting it done," Aisling said. He is starting to pay attention to his baby sister Sophie.

“Sometimes he’ll be looking at her and he’ll just giggle, but she doesn’t understand yet not to be pulling out of him, pulling at his toes and taking his toys. I know when she grows up and knows she has to be gentle, that they’ll be the best of pals.”

“Niall took over the house for the few days I was out celebrating but I still have to wake up and be Mammy and look after the kids. I’m very happy that Dan's still on my floor, making me very busy and the addition of Sophie has been incredible.

“She brought a lease of life back into the house, and happiness that we actually needed. She is definitely a little treasure," she said.

Aisling has a final word of thanks to those who helped her achieve the All Ireland win. "I am so grateful to Niall and our families, they’ve just been incredible. And I'm so thankful for how good Donie was to me. He was so understanding of my situation. He never put any pressure on me, if I ever missed training which was very rare, there was never any problem. He was just so good. He made it very clear that this was something I was doing to enjoy, not to be under pressure. He backed me and believed I still had something to give and for that I am so grateful," Aisling Donoher said.