‘Planning my funeral, if you were around I’d love you to sing a music in my reminiscence. No strain, you’ll at all times be my pal’
As destiny would have it, Daniel is on an Australian tour and was unable to take part within the celebration of Charlie’s life at a service in Dublin’s Mansion House final Thursday.
Singer Daniel and RTE’s legendary reporter had struck up an in depth friendship after assembly by likelihood on The Late Late Show the evening Charlie revealed he had motor neurone illness (MND) and introduced his Croagh Patrick charity climb.
Charlie makes his approach to the highest of Croagh Patrick
In a spur-of-the-moment gesture, the Donegal entertainer took private Rosary beads from his pocket and slipped it to Charlie that evening.
“I always have my beads with me and I just put my hand in my pocket and I felt them and I just felt that’s what I’m going to do,” Daniel yesterday recalled.
“I had it done before I thought what I was doing and then afterwards I started to think, ‘that’s a very, very bold thing to do to somebody that you don’t know.’ I remember saying to friends of mine what I did, and as I was telling them there came a message through another person that Charlie wanted to make contact with me.
“I had wanted to say to him that night, ‘If you climb Croagh Patrick I’ll go with you.’ But I didn’t know him and I didn’t want to be seen to be jumping into the middle of something that’s huge.
Charlie and Daniel with Ryan Tubridy
“I just thought, ‘this is not about me.’ But when we spoke Charlie said, ‘If you are around will you come up the mountain with me?’ And from then on, almost every text I would get from him Charlie would mention the beads, which seemed to give him so much comfort.”
Daniel was one of many 1000’s of people that joined Charlie when he climbed Croagh Patrick in April 2022 for the Climb with Charlie marketing campaign, which raised over €3.6m for the Irish Motor Neurone Disease Association and Pieta House.
One of the texts Daniel obtained from Charlie was final July through which he mentioned: “Planning my funeral, if you were around I would love you to sing a song in my memory. But no pressure, you will always be my pal.”
Charlie and Claire’s marriage ceremony in 2016
Daniel replied saying “when the time comes I would be honoured to be part of the celebration of your life.” Charlie responded: “Thanks Daniel, you are so great, I really do love you.”
Even although he knew that Charlie was within the remaining levels of his sickness, Daniel says it nonetheless got here as a shock to him when he obtained the information whereas doing a present in Adelaide this week. “I had texted him before I left,” he reveals.
“I don’t know that I ever met Charlie before that night on The Late Late Show, but he was one of those people that everybody felt they knew because he was so prominent on the news, bringing us stories that were always interesting.
Charlie with President Higgins
“When somebody like Charlie gets a diagnosis like that, while it is devastating for the person they have a profile and a platform to raise a huge amount of awareness of the illness and he certainly did that.
“One of the things I said to him was, ‘Charlie, I don’t know why you have got this, but what you’re doing is incredible.’ It was almost like he knew he was sent a mission and he had to accept the challenge. He was an incredible human being.
“His life was incredible… prior to this he was in very, very unusual situations all through his career, and then he was faced with this enormous challenge that he got, the terrible illness that is MND.
Charlie Bird with his wife Claire
“As I said this week, there was no story that Charlie told, big or small, that was as enormous to the one that he lived in the end.
“It was one that he could never have imagined, but it was remarkable how he handled it.
“And he was so blessed to have had his wife Claire, their dog Tiger and his family to give him the love and support he needed on the journey.”
