YES, MAJELLA HAS CANCER, SAYS DANIEL... PRAY FOR HER
Wife of the nation’s best-loved singer is fighting breast cancer... but they insist she will beat it
DANIEL O’Donnell’s wife Majella has been diagnosed with breast cancer, and the singer has asked fans for their prayers.
In a special message posted on his personal website yesterday,
the singer announced that his 53- year- old wife was recently diagnosed with the disease.
The star from Co. Donegal said: ‘She is undergoing treatment at present and as it was found in the early stages we are very hopeful of a full recovery.’ Daniel, 51, said while he knew that many people would be eager to offer their good wishes and support to his wife, he said the couple would simply not be able to deal with any mail.
‘All we need are your prayers to help us through this difficult time and we
know we can rely on that,’ he said. The couple also appealed for privacy as the Tipperary-born businesswoman battles the disease.
Daniel and Majella, who have been married for more than a decade, spend most of their time on the island of Tenerife, where the country music star has a villa.
The divorced mother- of-two is heavily involved in her husband’s career and manages his website.
Daniel’s sister, Margo, who is an award-winning country singer, told how her brother had contacted her last week to break the news about Majella’s illness.
‘I was taken aback by it,’ she said. ‘But then again there are not too many families in Ireland who have not been touched by cancer.’
Describing her sister-in-law as ‘a lovely person’, Margo, 62, also appealed to people to remember Majella in their prayers.
‘Our family have been so fond of Majella since she came into our lives when she met Daniel,’ she said.
‘She is a lovely person and very sincere and kind-hearted.’
She added: ‘ They are two very strong people and I have no doubt they will get through this together.
‘I would just ask people to keep them in their prayers – that’s the best thing people can do f or Majella now.’
Margo’s appeal for prayers was echoed by one of the couple’s closest friends, Pat ‘Nora’ Gallagher.
Mr Gallagher, who owns the Daniel O’Donnell Visitor Centre in Dungloe, Co. Donegal, admitted he was left shaken when he heard that Majella was seriously ill.
‘At this time they need our support and prayers but they also need to be allowed calmness and privacy to compose themselves and to deal with it,’ he said. ‘Thankfully today we know of so many people who have received successful medication and surgery to be able to deal with and overcome this disease.’
Daniel’s wife’s cancer diagnosis comes as the singer’s mother continues to recover after a stint in hospital.
Julia O’Donnell, who celebrated her 94th birthday last week, was kept in for around ten days.
Elsewhere, Majella has previously spoken openly about her lifelong struggle with depression, an illness that took a serious hold after the breakdown of her f i rst marriage. She was praised for her bravery during an appearance on RTÉ’s Would You Believe? programme in 2011 in which she revealed she had contemplated suicide several times.
‘She is a lovely person’
‘I’ve had these two very different lives,’ she said.
‘I was anonymous, with very little money and the usual struggles that everybody has, to a life where now I am known by people, certainly when I’m with Daniel.
‘I’m in a life with other celebrities at times. But the one constant thing that is always there is depression. That is part of me and part of who I always will be.’
She added: ‘You can have all the money in the world and be thinking about suicide at the same time.’
Earlier this year, Majella, who has two adult children, Michael and Siobhán, revealed that she and Daniel were unable to conceive.
‘At the beginning, I wanted a child more for him because I thought he should experience fatherhood, but he doesn’t feel he’s missed anything,’ she said.
‘I’m glad the way it worked out really, I’m nearly 53. Can you imagine a ten-year-old running around the place? I just wouldn’t have the energy. Thanks be to God – He was looking after us in his own way!’
Daniel met his future wife in 1999 while she was working in her parents’ bar in Tenerife during one of his regular trips to the island resort.
But Majella admitted it was not love at first sight when she first met the Donegal crooner. However, after dazzling the Donegal star with her own musical talents, the pair clicked and the relationship quickly developed.
There were hiccups along the way though, and Majella previously told how Daniel had prematurely ended the relationship because he was worried his thousands of fans would not approve of him marrying a divorced mother.
‘He said, “Look, it’s not going to work,” and I knew myself that it was to do with me being divorced and having kids and the kind of image he had,’ Majella said.
‘Eventually, though, he came around to thinking we could overcome whatever obstacles were put in front of us.’
The couple eventually married in 2002 in a fairytale wedding ceremony in the singer’s hometown of Kincasslagh.
Earlier this year, his childhood home, where he hosted tea parties for countless fans, went on the market for €400,000. The six-bed house in Kincasslagh was too big for his sister Kathleen, her family, and his mother, Julia.