15-year-old Cillian Flaherty was tragically passed away while his family were participating in Ireland’s Fittest Family and his family are now speaking out about the devastating loss.
The heartbroken parents of Ireland’s Fittest Family contestant Cillian Flaherty have recalled the moment they found him unresponsive as they call for cardiac screening to be made more widely available.
The teen died from Sudden Arrhythmic Death Syndrome (SADS) in 2024, a day after togging out for Mountview U16S and delivering a standout performance.
On the day of his passing, his father, Paul, said that he was in a great mood and there was nothing to suggest that anything might be wrong.
He remembers going to get Cillian up for school the next morning and not being able to wake him.
‘I just bent over to make sure. I was shaking, and I was just screaming for [his wife] Paula. And then Paula came in, and she just looked in the door.
‘It was like she knew the way I shouted for her… she knew that something wasn’t right,’ he told Prime Time.
Despite their frantic initial attempts at CPR and treatment from emergency services, Cillian could not be revived, and all they could do was sit with him.
‘We knew that when he gets taken away, that the next time he comes back, it’s going to be in a coffin,’ Cillian’s family said.
The next few days passed in a blur of condolences, and they were then informed that Cillian had passed away from SADS.
Paul still has moments of guilt, despite the fact that there was nothing that they could have done to save their son.
‘He was in bed, and he was asleep, so we didn’t know. You find yourself being guilty, saying, “Why did I not go in and check?” But who’s going to know? Who’s going to think something like that?’
In the wake of Cillian’s passing, the family is hoping to see greater awareness of cardiac screening and more availability, including in schools.
‘If there were more screening out there, if they gave it a bigger profile and advertised screening, then people could go get themselves checked before something like that actually happens.’
They also urge people to train in CPR.
