Paralympic rower with Inishowen roots only took up the sport last year

A young athlete with Inishowen roots is to row for Ireland at the Paralympics despite only taking up the sport last year.

Tiarnán O’Donnell will compete in the mixed  double sculls rowing event alongside Katie O’Brien, a gold medallist at the World Para Rowing Championships in 2022.

They are aiming for a medal following recent individual successes at world rowing events. Tiarnan, who is also a talented wheelchair basketball player, will be supported in Paris by a group of over 100 of his family and friends. 

Tiarnan’s father Paddy hails from Roxtown, Urris. He helped set up Urris GAA club, where he captained the team that won the Donegal GAA Junior Championship in 1978. He then moved to Limerick in 1982 to a job in the university’s engineering department. 

There he met his wife Neasa, from Achill island, when he worked as chairman of the University GAA Club. They went on to have four sons, Caolan, Ronan, and twins Tiarnan and Darragh.  

Tiarnán, 26,  is a right leg amputee and keen sportsman who lets nothing get in his way. He captained an Irish U23 basketball team to a European bronze in Finland, but decided to move from wheelchair basketball to rowing just last year.  

His mother Neasa, recounts the story: “Tiarnán was in Junior Infants when he came home one day with a sore calf. After many trips to the GP, scans, and years of medical investigation, it was thought to be a cancerous tumour.” 

Eventually, they were told it was not cancerous.  He was finally diagnosed at 14 by Boston Children’s Hospital with an extremely rare tumour called a Fibro-Adipose Vascular Anomaly. A huge tumour had grown from his calf to his hamstring.  

A multi-disciplinary medical team from the Mater Private, James Hospital, Dublin, Boston Childrens’ Hospital and Great Ormonde Street Hospital in London was established to work on his case. Over the next two years, they tried everything.  

Tiarnán continues the story: “I was just the sixteenth person in the world diagnosed with this condition. In the summer  before my Leaving Cert year, I underwent an extremely risky procedure to try to remove a  large portion of the tumour from my calf. Unfortunately during the operation I got severe  nerve damage, leaving my leg paralysed,” he explained.  

Tiarnán couldn’t eat or sleep with the intense pain. A cocktail of strong painkillers was used to help manage the pain over the next two years. Some days, Mum Neasa says, she would open the bedroom door to call him for school and he would just say: “Not today  Mum”. 

When Tiarnán was 14, his teacher introduced him to wheelchair basketball. He captained the Under 23 Irish team to a bronze medal in the European games. 

In 2017 he sat his Leaving Certificate. He was determined to get through it – having to numb the pain with an epidural a week before, so that he could sit his exams. 

“In 2018 during his first year doing business studies at University of Limerick he himself  bravely decided on amputation,” explained Neasa.  

“He couldn’t go any further with the pain. Six foot tall and only 48 kilos, he was emaciated. He took a year out after the amputation, went back to UL, and qualified in mechanical engineering as he had always dreamed of doing, in 2023. Boston Scientific has offered him a job when he’s ready.  

Tiarnán O’Donnell will compete in the mixed  double sculls rowing with Katie O’Brien

“Tiarnan joined the Sports Institute in Dublin in April 2022. In Feb 2023, James Nolan, ex-international runner, invited Tiarnán to the Institute and talked prosthetics. He put Tiarnán’s photo on social media.  

“Katie O’Brien, world champion rower, happened to see the photo. She rang him up and said: ‘You look like you’d be good at rowing. Could you help me achieve my dream of  getting to the Paralympics?’ Tiarnán said: ‘If I can help, it could be a dream come true for us both.’ However, he warned her he had to get through his exams first. He said: ‘This is my  final year of engineering, and I have to finish my exams before I can start rowing.’  

“On the last day of his engineering exams in May 2023, he got into a rowing boat for the  first time.” 

Tiaran moved to the rowing centre in Cork, and his parents agreed to finance him so that  he could devote the year to training with the aim of competing in the Paralympics in August 2024. 

In February 2024, Uber, whose head office is based in Limerick, contacted him  saying they loved his story and wanted to finance him, and have been a major support since. One of the bonuses is that everywhere he goes in the world there is an Uber taxi waiting on him. 

Tiarnán then raced last summer for UL for the first time in the Single Sculls in the Home  International. He trained in Cork at world-class level, and in May of this year attended the  World Cup Series in Switzerland, where he won silver in the Single Scull race. No one had seen him compete before, and he created a sensation – “Who is this guy? Where did he  come from?” 

He then competed in Poland, where he again came second. The World Champion, from  Holland, got out of his boat, came over to Tiarnán and said ‘Where did you come from?’  The pair developed a great camaraderie.  

“Nothing will stop him – he was determined, despite all the obstacles, to do his Leaving  Cert, to do a degree in engineering, and now to get to the Paralympics. He has a dogged determination and a depth of belief. If you believe in yourself enough you can do it,”  explained Neasa.  

“He developed the philosophy as a child, ‘If I can get through this, I can get through anything’.

The brothers always supported each other through everything, and the family motto was  “positive thinking, forward marching’” says Neasa. Tiarnán credits his strong work ethic to  his parents and attributes his drive and determination to them. 

“They are both extremely successful in their professional lives and in their sporting careers when they were my age. They have never pushed me in any direction but have allowed  me to find my path and guided me along the way. They make sure to let me know how  proud they are of me anytime I achieve something whether it be big or small,” he explained.  

A final story indicates the kind nature of this modest young man. A few years ago, Tiarnán was approached by a family in Cork. Their son Jack, who was also an amputee, was  terribly bullied at primary school. Tiarnán went down to see Jack. They began to meet up every Sunday, becoming firm friends. Tiarnán used to say to Jack: “We’re different but  we’re special.” 

Jack and his family will be in Paris next week to cheer on his mentor and friend.