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Sean O'Neill Suzanne O'Neill

'He was absolutely thrilled': Tipperary teen with serious heart condition chosen for dream US golf trip

19-year-old Sean O’Neill was diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy four years ago.

“WE FELT THERE had to be something for him. We were just so frustrated that he was having such a difficult time.” 

Four years ago, 19-year-old Tipperary native Sean O’Neill received a life-changing diagnosis, which saw the end to his sporting life as he knew it – but at the end of this month, he’ll get the opportunity to head off on a dream golf trip to the US. 

Following a routine school screening, and a follow-up trip to Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital in Crumlin, it was discovered that O’Neill has hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). 

HCM occurs if the heart muscle cells enlarge and cause the walls of the ventricles to thicken. 

At the time, O’Neill was an active hurler and a competitive cyclist. His diagnosis saw an end to these hobbies. 

“It was a huge shock. It was huge and it still is,” O’Neill’s mother Suzanne told TheJournal.ie.

“We’re very positive people and we would have always tried to put a positive slant on it, but the challenge for Sean … we live in Tipperary and there would have been a lot of hurling around here. I think it was a huge challenge for Sean,” she said. 

‘An electrical storm’ 

The day after O’Neill’s 18th birthday, he was at home with his mother when he experienced a life-threatening arrhythmia. 

He sustained six shocks from his defibrillator, which is inserted in his chest, something his mother described as an “electrical storm”. 

“I was lucky I was actually with him. It was a really, really low point for him because the trauma of it alone to be shocked from a defib, it’s very hard,” Suzanne said. 

“We just felt that there had to be something for him. We were just so frustrated that he was having such a difficult time,” she added. 

It was at this point that O’Neill’s parents made the decision to get him involved in golf, something his doctor at Crumlin had suggested, and paid for lessons for him.

They also began looking into events he could get involved in. 

“We were frantic, really, looking online to see if there was any positive thing that we could apply for or that he could get,” Suzanne said.

Round of a Lifetime

After finding details about the organisation online, they wrote an application to Round of a Lifetime (ROAL) in the US. 

The Round of a Lifetime Foundation was established in 2010 to preserve the memory and passion of Andrew Maciey, who passed away from Familial Dilated Cardiomyopathy at the age of 24. 

The foundation holds a major annual golf tournament, rallies, fundraisers and other outings throughout the year. 

Furthermore, it provides golf trips for people who have congenital heart defects. 

Earlier this year, the O’Neill family received an email from ROAL to confirm that Sean had been chosen to be a recipient for one of this trips. This is the first time the foundation has chosen somebody from outside of the US to take part. 

Next weekend, O’Neill will travel to Florida to play at TPC Sawgrass.

“He was delighted, he was absolutely thrilled,” Suzanne said. 

“There was great excitement. It was the excitement of who was going to come with him.”

O’Neill has chosen his father, his neighbour and a friend to travel with him on the trip. 

ROAL president Joe Maciey told TheJournal.ie that O’Neill was chosen for the trip “based on not only meeting the criteria of the foundation, but someone who makes a good fit”. 

“Sean is our first international recipient and we are so happy to have awarded him a trip to play at TPC Sawgrass in Florida,” Maciey said.

Speaking of what it means to her for O’Neill to have been chosen, his mother said: “He’s had so many negative experiences and so many challenges that we just want him to have a positive experience. 

“We’re very, very grateful to the foundation because financially we wouldn’t have been in a position for anything like this.”

Suzanne expressed her gratitude to the doctors at Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital, the Mater Foundation and ROAL for their support towards Sean over the years. 

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    Mute Barbara Coleman
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    Apr 22nd 2022, 8:11 AM

    20 years in solitary confinement and confined to your cell 23 hours a day – completely barbaric I and 15 minutes to die
    by lethal injection- again barbaric !

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    Mute Garreth mc mahon
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    Apr 22nd 2022, 8:19 AM

    @Barbara Coleman: shooting death a police officer on a traffic stop and sexually abusing a minor, that’s barbaric

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    Mute Derek Moran
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    Apr 22nd 2022, 8:22 AM

    @Barbara Coleman: just think of the lives it saved keeping him there. Wish we could have done the same with that famous Irish crim / serial kilerr. that only served 10 years of a 15 year sentence.

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    Mute Colleen
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    Apr 22nd 2022, 8:46 AM

    @Barbara Coleman: don’t really agree with the death penalty but not too concerned about him spending years in solitary confinement. He murdered someone and it’s not supposed to be a holiday camp. Maybe if this happened here, it might act as some kind of deterrent. If you can’t do the time, don’t do the crime.

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    Mute Dan Moran
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    Apr 22nd 2022, 9:21 AM

    @Garreth mc mahon: All of the acts are barbaric. The point being one of them is state sponsored barbarism administered to shown how wrong barbarism is. Its a bit of a contradiction in terms, apart from that it’s an easy way out for animals like that.

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    Mute EillieEs
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    Apr 22nd 2022, 10:19 AM

    @Colleen:if the death penalty acted as a deterrent then the US wouldn’t have such a high rate of violent death and nor would it have the highest rate of incarceration in the entire world.

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    Mute EillieEs
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    Apr 22nd 2022, 10:20 AM

    @Derek Moran: incarceration without solitary confinement would have had the same outcome for society.

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    Mute Alan Wright
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    Apr 22nd 2022, 10:38 AM

    @EillieEs: You are put in solitary confinement for a reason, either you are a danger to other inmates/staff or for your own protection. Remember, this was not a nice guy, that is a fact, you think the day he got locked up he became a complete pacifist?

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    Mute Sean
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    Apr 23rd 2022, 12:39 AM

    @Alan Wright: Texas keeps all death-row prisoners in solitary confinement.

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    Mute Colette Byrne
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    Apr 24th 2022, 8:00 AM

    @Alan Wright: 20 years come on, most corrupt police force, its nothing to do with protecting one of their own. I DON’T CONDONE his crimes. But how many innocent people have been out to death in the states. How many convictions over turned years later, esp against black people. Maybe if they dealth with gun laws, they might not have a need for death penalty. Two wrongs don’t make a right.

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    Mute Larry O Reilly
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    Apr 22nd 2022, 8:42 AM

    Great job fair play to the authorities, he was on death row for years then they carried out the rule of court executed him, he had it coming unlike his victim who was just doing his job.
    Why do so many forget that there is a victim and a family involved here, when they decide that this is wrong and break out the hankies

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    Mute sean o'dhubhghaill
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    Apr 22nd 2022, 8:18 AM

    Capital punishment is WRONG.

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    Mute Maurice O Neill
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    Apr 22nd 2022, 8:46 AM

    @sean o’dhubhghaill: It does not matter what you are I think. Texas has that law in place for a reason so its up to them to change it. I notice how there is no mention of the US President who is apparently against the death penalty. If they wanted to grant him clemency they could have but he was rejected by the parole board.

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    Mute sean o'dhubhghaill
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    Apr 22nd 2022, 11:25 AM

    @Maurice O Neill: Why does what I am have ANY bearing on this?

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    Mute Felix O' Mahoney
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    Apr 22nd 2022, 12:27 PM

    @sean o’dhubhghaill: Not for people who abuse children it’s not. They should ALL meet the same fate.

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    john
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    Mute john
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    Apr 22nd 2022, 3:16 PM

    @sean o’dhubhghaill: no its not we should have it in Ireland you kill he and out in. 5 years joke

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    Mute Maurice O Neill
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    Apr 22nd 2022, 8:50 AM

    Imagine for one minute if President Trump was still in office. The Irish media would be all over this and would really be laying into him today. But yet not a peep from any of the Major news outlets here about this. I suppose they have a friend in the White House now so it wouldn’t be seen as conforming to upset the current administration.

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    Mute Paul Clancy
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    Apr 22nd 2022, 8:56 AM

    @Maurice O Neill: you’ve mentioned the Presidency twice. I don’t get what you mean, what has the President got to do with this?

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    Mute Míchael Búrké
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    Apr 22nd 2022, 8:59 AM

    @Maurice O Neill: awww the bub bub bub, you okay hun?

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    Mute Paul Furey
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    Apr 22nd 2022, 9:05 AM

    @Maurice O Neill: former president and he (still) deserves all the criticism been thrown at him. A completely awful human being.

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    Mute Bríann O Connor
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    Apr 22nd 2022, 9:59 AM

    @Maurice O Neill: jeez that’s some hard on for trump you have.

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    Mute EillieEs
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    Apr 22nd 2022, 10:33 AM

    @Maurice O Neill: not a peep from any major Irish news outlet? Wow that is absolutely untrue, it’s reported in everything from RTE to the Irish Independent to the Mirror and you’re commenting on an article on it here on the Journal. Why lie about something so easily debunked? It just makes you look untrustworthy

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    Mute Colette Byrne
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    Apr 24th 2022, 8:02 AM

    @Maurice O Neill: It’s not major news.

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    Mute Eamonn O'Hanrahan
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    Apr 22nd 2022, 8:18 AM

    Nothing is more evil than a legally sanctioned killing of this kind.

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    RJ
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    Mute RJ
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    Apr 22nd 2022, 8:28 AM

    @Eamonn O’Hanrahan: not sure the victims of these perpetrators or their families would agree.

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    Mute Alan Wright
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    Apr 22nd 2022, 8:29 AM

    @Eamonn O’Hanrahan: Nothing? Man, your sense of perception of what “evil” is, is very very wrong.

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    Mute Roy Dowling
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    Apr 22nd 2022, 8:53 AM

    @Eamonn O’Hanrahan: So in your opinion the people who gave carried out the legally sanctioned injection are more evil than a man who sexually assaulted a minor and killed a police offer? Seriously?

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    Mute Geoff Bateman
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    Apr 22nd 2022, 9:30 AM

    The sentence is correct, but the years of waiting for the sentence to be carried out is Barbaric

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    Mute Felix O' Mahoney
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    Apr 22nd 2022, 12:28 PM

    @Geoff Bateman: almost as barbaric as the poor innocent child having to live their entire life with the knowledge that they had been sexually abused by a monster.
    Monsters deserved to d i e. Slowly.

    54
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    Mute Anna Carr
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    Apr 22nd 2022, 10:02 AM

    I’m always torn by this. My head tells me it’s wrong, but my heart always pipes up as to why tax payers should contribute to the upkeep of these people in prison. Plus an eye for an eye and all that. Grateful I don’t actually have to make the decision.

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    Mute EillieEs
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    Apr 22nd 2022, 10:34 AM

    @Anna Carr: an eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind

    35
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    Mute Felix O' Mahoney
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    Apr 22nd 2022, 12:29 PM

    @EillieEs: no it doesn’t, it leaves everyone with one eye

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    Mute Anna Carr
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    Apr 22nd 2022, 12:42 PM

    @Felix O’ Mahoney: lol

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    Mute The Ghost of Micheal Collins
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    Apr 22nd 2022, 9:28 AM

    I disagree with capital punishment because I think the prisoners should be forced to serve the full duration of their sentences.

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    Mute John Martin
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    Apr 22nd 2022, 8:18 AM

    Hardly breaking news, 78 year old dies

    33
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    Mute Shane Kennedy
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    Apr 22nd 2022, 11:59 AM

    Two wrongs don’t make a right. Nobody has the right to kill another person. The USA’s correctional system isn’t working.

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    Mute Paul Flynn
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    Apr 22nd 2022, 9:32 AM

    The only cruel part of this was making him wait twenty years. He should have been hanged after one tril and one appeal.

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    Mute Barry Evans
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    Apr 22nd 2022, 1:44 PM

    @Paul Flynn: I’m sure there are quite a number of people who were acquitted years later with the dawning of new forensic technology who would disagree with you………

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    Mute Conor Furlong
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    Apr 22nd 2022, 10:09 AM

    Barbaric. Utterly barbaric. This is murder.

    24
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    Mute Alan Wright
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    Apr 22nd 2022, 10:45 AM

    @Conor Furlong: Where is your condemnation for the vile crimínal that put himself in this position for murdèring and innocent cop and abuse of a child. Your concern for criminals really shows your character. You could’ve condemned both in your post, but sided with the evil criminal.

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    Mute Marty Quish
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    Apr 22nd 2022, 10:22 AM

    Uff. What a way to go . 20 years solitary confinement is a death sentence in itself.

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    Mute Alan Wright
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    Apr 22nd 2022, 10:45 AM

    @Marty Quish: Its not. He didn’t die in his cell.

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    Mute Marty Quish
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    Apr 22nd 2022, 10:33 PM

    @Alan Wright: aren’t you a bright one .

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    Mute Declan Carr
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    Apr 22nd 2022, 11:45 AM

    They would have been better off killing him 20 years ago, think of all that TAX payer’s money they would have saved. After 20 years locked away from everyone, and being old, death would be a doddle. Saying I’m ready to go, rather than begging for forgiveness, takes the good out of it for his family.

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    Mute Tony Harris
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    Apr 22nd 2022, 1:06 PM

    @Declan Carr: What you say I’d true, but remember, in the U.S. prisons are a money making racket for private enterprise!

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    Paul
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    Mute Paul
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    Apr 22nd 2022, 10:00 AM

    Given that his health and medical conditions were going to end him soon anyway I think it was more a case of execution by euthanasia

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    Mute O'connor Joanne
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    Apr 22nd 2022, 10:46 PM

    Justifying one murder by committing another

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    Mute Ciaran Leonard
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    Apr 23rd 2022, 1:15 AM

    The United States and it’s people must be very proud to be able to keep someone in solitary confinement for 20 years and then execute an old age pensioner. Torture followed by execution. How can they be allowed to lecture the rest of the world? It is a very sick society but unfortunately they are not even aware of it.

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    Mute Seamus Quaide
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    Apr 23rd 2022, 5:54 AM

    And Trump walks around free…..

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    Mute Seamus Quaide
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    Apr 23rd 2022, 5:54 AM

    Any Trump walks around free….and will probably be elected president again.

    America is deeply lost.

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    Mute John Nolan
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    Jan 1st 2024, 2:07 PM

    Why after 30 years do this?

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    Mute Anne Feerick
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    Apr 24th 2022, 5:43 PM

    @Barbara Coleman if he was in general population he would been a target for attack.

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