REPUBLIC OF IRELAND captain Seamus Coleman has gone another step further in his efforts to support the ‘Do it for Dan’ fundraising drive.

The Donegal man hit the headlines recently when he made a €15,000 contribution to the fund which sees county Laois parents Aisling and Niall Donoher aim to raise over €2million to help their baby boy Dan undergo a rare medical treatment in the USA.

But until now, less was known about the phone call that followed the Everton player’s generous act.

“A few days after Seamus made the donation he followed it up with a text message wishing us all the best and asking if we’d be up for a phone call just to say hello”, revealed Aisling this week.

“So he gave us a call and I have to say he was an absolute gentleman. He has two children of his own, two little girls, so he knows as a parent that your children are everything. No matter what you have or don’t have in life, your children are your everything.”

Coleman, who will continue to captain the Irish team under new Irish manager Stephen Kenny, went on to explain that he was happy to continue to help in any way he could.

“Seamus said that he was happy to do whatever he could to help us out with the fundraising. If he could help us to raise the profile, if he could donate boots or a jersey, whatever we needed him to do he was willing to do.

“And on top of all that he said if we ever needed just to talk that he was always on the other end of the phone. ‘You have my mobile number now so I’m here whenever you need me’.

“I know I’ve said it already but he really was just such a gentleman. And he was so easy to talk to. It felt like I was just taking to somebody like my brother down the phone.”

Coleman’s wife Rachael then asked if she could speak with Aisling and the two chatted away about the joys of parenthood.

“She is a lady. She really is. As a mother she was able to empathise with our situation. She told me to stop thanking her, that this was something they wanted to do. They wanted to donate and they wanted to help in any way they could.”

“And like Seamus, she said if we ever needed to chat to just give her a ring. It was just so nice to speak to another mammy, somebody who knows what it is to be a mammy.”

The ‘Do it for Dan’ Go Fund Me account is quickly approaching the €1.5m mark after a surge in fundraising initiatives right across the country in recent weeks and Aisling still struggles to believe the momentum that its gathered.

“It’s been unreal. I feel like I can’t express myself enough as to how grateful we are. It’s beyond any words that I can say. We’re just so filled with gratitude for what everybody has done.

“How all of these different communities have just come together is amazing. I mean we have all these rival clubs, but now they’re having the craic with each other, trying to best one another. Who can run the most? Who can run the fastest? And it’s all for Dan. It’s just been unbelieveable.”

“Niall and I have had messages from people saying that while they might be doing this and that for Dan, does Dan realise what he’s doing for us. He’s bringing our clubs closer together, he’s bringing our communities closer together.”

While the onset of the coronavirus initially looked as though it may scupper all of the fundraising plans, Aisling feels that it has actually had the opposite effect, galvanising people across the country behind their little boy’s fight.

“During this uncertain time, Dan seems to giving people a purpose, a reason to get out and go for walks, go for a run, so they can be part of the donation drive. They want to help.

“And there’s been a real fun element to it as well. People are doing burpees, they’re colouring their hair, their shaving their heads, their waving a rival teams jersey, all sorts of craic.

“The fundraising committee that had been set up were obviously concerned when the corona virus really kicked off because they had so many events planned and they had mapped out how they were going to try and make this money and what they were going to target.”

“But in the end its given people a lot more time at home to read about Dan’s story and to have time to help and be creative with the things they’ve come up with. There’s one guy, Eric Donovan, and he’s going to skip on Saturday for five hours! Crazy. And then there’s Cahir (Healy). I don’t think he realises what he’s letting himself in for.”

Healy, a Laois inter county footballer and hurler, is the latest to come up with an innovative fundraising challenge, vowing to run a marathon while also scoring 1,000 hurling points from the 45 metre line and 1,000 football points from the 21 metre line.

You can contribute to Cahir’s efforts and the Do it for Dan fundraising drive on their Go Fund Me page.