Donal Walsh, the Irish teenager whose grace in the face of terminal cancer was recognised by the entire country, was made an honorary member of the Augustinian religious order by the man who was this week elected Pope Leo XIV.
Fr Robert Prevost, who was then prior general of the religious order, swore Donal in as an honorary lay Augustinian on this day, May 10, 12 years ago.
Donal died on May 12, 2013, just one month shy of his 17th birthday. He had been diagnosed with osteosarcoma, also known as bone cancer, when he was just 12 years old.
When he was 16, the eloquent young man, who had a profound Catholic faith, became angry at the issue of teenage suicide in Co Kerry. Donal, who had already endured cancer twice, had been diagnosed a third time and told that his condition was terminal.
He struggled to understand how other young people could choose to end their lives.
He wrote a piece with the intention of it being read to his classmates at the CBS he attended in Tralee after he passed away.
“I realised that I was fighting for my life for the third time in four years and this time I have no hope,” the letter read.
He closed the letter by explaining, growing up in Kerry, he lived in a part of the world “that is surrounded by mountains. I can’t turn my head without finding a bloody hill or mountain and I suppose those were God’s plans for me. To have me grow up around mountains and grow [up] climbing a few too. And that’s exactly what I’ve done, I may have grown up in body around them but I’ve fully grown and matured in mind climbing His mountains.”
After he won a local award, the Kerry’s Eye newspaper had asked if Donal had any other writing that he would like to share.
The letter was published in the newspaper, and Donal rose to national prominence.
He appeared on Brendan O’Connor ‘s The Saturday Night Show on RTÉ, and spoke about how his faith had guided him through his terminal diagnosis.
“I wouldn’t be where I am without it. I see God has given me this challenge, but I may be used as a symbol for other people to appreciate life more,” Donal said.
“If I’m meant to be a symbol for people to appreciate life, it mightn’t just be suicide in particular, but just to appreciate life more, then I’ll be happy to die if that’s what I’m dying for.”
Donal also used his profile to raise awareness of the conditions sick children and their families were experiencing in Crumlin Children’s Hospital. He managed to raise €50,000 for the hospital.
He also wrote an article for the Sunday Independent detailing his life and his experiences.
He wrote: “Some days I would wake up and I could easily appreciate the beauty of the world that I was leaving behind, although it does make me upset that I will never get to experience the feeling of living that I had on the bike or in the gym, or that I will never get to see my sister walk up the aisle next to the love of her life, or that I will never get to travel the world and see places like New Zealand, Asia or America, or that I won’t get the chance to see my four best friends do as good in life as I know they will.
“But I have to remember that God is using me; whether He is using me as a symbol for people to appreciate life more or whether His first two mountains weren’t high enough for me, all I know is that I am walking with Him even though it is along His path.”
Donal’s uncle, Fr Michael Walsh, happened to be an Augustinian priest. Fr Walsh showed a copy of the Sunday Independent to his then prior general, Fr Robert Prevost.
Fr Prevost, the would-be Pope, was so impressed with Donal’s article that he agreed to make him an honorary Augustinian. He wrote to Donal to offer him the honorary recognition. Donal accepted and was sworn in two days before he died.
Each May, Donal’s proud family hold an event in his honour at Knock Shrine.
“Donal Walsh Day”, one of the largest annual youth faith events in Europe, is always held the Thursday closest to Donal’s anniversary on May 12. So by chance, his parents, Fionnbar and Elma Walsh, were in Knock celebrating their son’s memory the day that the Pope was elected.
“My brother was home for Donal’s Day and he said to me ‘you know, Fr Prevost could actually be in contention’,” Mr Walsh told the Irish Independent. “I said ‘hardly, he’s American’.
“It was just so surprising that the same person who wrote that letter to Donal is now the Pope. It’s just so nice, it’s another connection to Donal. I think Donal would be very proud.”
Faith has been very important to the Walsh family throughout their lives and since Donal’s passing.
For Christmas 2013, the family felt overwhelmed by the number of well wishers who were visiting and calling in. They travelled to Rome for that first Christmas, and were in the Vatican for Pope Francis’s first Christmas celebration.
“We would have had a strong faith throughout [Donal’s illness] I would have [been] bartering with God at the beginning. You know, ‘if you give it to me, I’ll take it, why pick on a child?’” Mr Walsh said.
But Donal’s grace would often take them aback.
“When he started out the journey, he started out saying ‘why me?’ And you couldn’t answer it,” Mr Walsh said. “
“But at the end of it, we were asking the question, ‘why us? Why was he being taken from us?’ He would just turn around and he’d say, ‘why not me?’”