RNLI lifeboat man signed up after son’s Christmas Day rescue

An Aran Island dad was so grateful to his local lifeboat crew who rushed his nine month old son to hospital on Christmas Day that he decided to join up as a volunteer himself!

It’s seven years since the Christmas Day drama descended on the O’Connell household on Inis Mór – but this Christmas it will be dad Daniel on standby with his colleagues in case of emergency.

They will be joined by RNLI lifeboat crews in Galway city and Clifden – all with their teams of volunteers on call throughout Christmas and the New Year.

And they are no strangers to Christmas launches, with the all three lifeboat stations having launched on Christmas Day in the past.

Since 2015 there have been ten lifeboat launches on Christmas Day itself – and that’s why they are calling their festive fundraising and awareness campaign, the Perfect Storm.

The O’Connells know exactly what that’s like from both sides of the equation, because they were the grateful beneficiaries of one such emergency call-out on Christmas Day in 2012.

Little Jack O’Connell was born in 2009 – and from about nine months old, he suffered with tonsillitis every few months.

But on Christmas Day 2012, things took a turn for the worse and Jack’s tonsils swelled up so severely that he had difficulty breathing.

He was rushed to Rossaveal by lifeboat and transferred to hospital for urgent treatment.

Thankfully Jack recovered – and his father, Daniel, was so grateful for the help of the local lifeboat crew that he joined up as a volunteer.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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