Tributes poured in last week when it was confirmed that Jonah Lomu, the legendary All Blacks rugby star, had passed away after a long-term battle with a rare kidney disease.
As well as paying tribute to Jonah’s incredible talents on the rugby pitch, fellow players and fans singled out Jonah’s kindness and compassion to everyone he met as some of his greatest qualities - and this week an example of this has moved the nation.
Last week’s devastating news cast one Irish family’s minds back to 2001, when Lomu made a truly generous gesture to their ailing twin daughters.
Having been asked by Brian O’Driscoll to participate in a meet-and-greet for charities Operation Rudolph and the Bubblegum Club, Lomu obliged – and went above and beyond the call of duty.
Two days before a major game against Ireland, Lomu took some time out of his busy schedule to pay a visit to some ill Irish patients, and he saved his special attention for the Hoey twins.
Nine-year-old Aoife and Jennifer Hoey were suffering from a rare lung disease, and had had a traumatic experience with their illness. As well as spending a significant portion of their lives receiving hospital and home treatment, the little girls had both undergone operations to have parts of their lungs removed.
In a move that touched the girls and their families, Lomu not only visited them and posed for photos, but he reportedly stayed well beyond his allotted time at the hospital. And when he was asked if Weetabix was the secret to his success, he assured the girls: "Oh yeah, truckloads of that."
Jonah’s generous gesture has been praised this week following his sad passing; it’s clear that he touched lives far and wide.
