Family of mum with ‘life-ending brain injury’ in rickshaw crash after Westlife gig ‘hanging onto hope’ as band reach out

WESTLIFE have reached out to the family of a young mum who tragically sustained a “life-ending brain injury” in a horrific rickshaw crash after she attended the band’s concert in Dublin, The Irish Sun has learned.

A fundraiser for Danielle O’Keane, 37, who is currently in ICU following the horror incident on North Wall Quay in Dublin city at around 11pm on Saturday night, has reached over £100,000 in donations.

Brave Danielle was rushed to the Mater University Hospital and remains in intensive care on a ventilator after suffering a “life-ending brain injury” in the incident.

The 37-year-old, from Newry in Co Armagh, had travelled to Dublin with friends to see Westlife perform at the 3Arena last Friday.

The mum-of-two was enjoying what was meant to be a joyous night with thousands of other fans when tragedy struck.

Danielle’s brother-in-law Derek earlier told the Irish Mirror the young mum suffered a “catastrophic brain injury” in the crash, with her family now facing the heartbreaking moment her ventilator will be turned off.

He explained: “The doctor sat us down and spoke to us, and he actually revealed that she’s actually facing a life-ending brain injury.

“At the moment we’re waiting for them, they’re going through the process of confirming this.”

But he said there is “nothing” doctors can do, adding: “It’s just the process of waiting for them to officially turn off the machine. It’s heartbreaking”.

Derek described the mum-of-two as “full of life,” adding she “was the most sweetest girl you’d ever meet”.

While Westlife would make no public comment today about the tragic incident, a band insider told The Irish Sun that they had been “in contact with Danielle’s family”.

The mum had been travelling by rickshaw towards Dublin city centre to meet her husband and some friends when the accident happened.

Ashling O’Keane, Danielle’s sister-in-law, told Newstalk’s Lunchtime Live with Andrea Gilligan that the whole incident was like the film franchise Final Destination, where people are killed in sometimes unusual incidents.

She said: “Danielle doesn’t go out, so this was a rare occasion for her to kind of go out and let her hair down.”

She told how Danielle had a great time at the gig before her group decided to get a rickshaw out of the 3Arena area to meet Danielle’s husband David and the other girls’ partners.

Ashling said: “They thought it’d be a couple of minutes max they’d be on it and unfortunately that wasn’t meant to be.

“Danielle wasn’t supposed to get to her final destination.”

She explained that the motorised rickshaw was going down the cycle lane, where there was a divider between the lane and the road, and essentially the back wheel clipped the divider and the vehicle overturned.

Danielle and the girls fell out, but unfortunately Danielle fell into the path of an oncoming car and was hit on the head.

Ashling continued: “It’s like, Final Destination is the only way to explain it. The wheel clipped the divider, as soon as the rickshaw toppled over on its side the car came…”

Ashling said one of the other passengers suffered a broken nose and broken teeth and a serious laceration to her head, but Danielle ultimately suffered the brunt of the injuries.

She had to be resuscitated on the scene and had a cardiac arrest on the way to the Mater Hospital, while mini-strokes were happening due to the trauma to her brain.

Doctors then explained to her family that Danielle had suffered a “life-ending” brain injury.

Breaking down on air, Ashling explained: “It’s just very surreal. This is stuff you hear about in books or movies, you know, bad TV shows, soaps, and this is real life now.”

Ashling explained how the best case scenario for Danielle now is palliative care, with the worst case being that the machines supporting her would be eventually switched off.

The hospital is carrying out tests to determine whether there has been brain stem death, which Ashling said would “essentially mean Danielle is no longer with us”.

She added: “We’re still hanging on to hope and praying. We’re sending all of our prayers, hopes, like all the good vibes possible out there.”

Ashling said it was her sister’s four-year wedding anniversary to her husband David on October 13, while the young family had their first holiday to Mallorca booked for October 5.

One of the last messages she received was a picture of Danielle’s suitcases already packed for that holiday.

Ashling added in tribute: “She was the most organised person. The most loving, most selfless… her life was about her kids and her husband.”

David was also due to start a new job on Monday and Ashling said he’s “worried” for the future and how he’s going to look after the kids, but “we are very close and we will lift him up and hold him up and support him”.

Ashling added: “I feel this accident was so avoidable. Danielle has essentially been robbed of seeing her kids grow old or her partner… My brother has been robbed of growing old with his wife and the children are getting robbed of love and memories with their mummy.

“It feels so unfair, there’s a lot of anger I think there and we don’t know where to direct that right now.

“Like maybe there’s no one to direct it at, you know, maybe it’s just very unfortunate.

“Honestly as I said it feels like Final Destination, it’s so avoidable. It’s just baffling. I can’t even think about it.” 

On Danielle’s and the family’s outlook for the weeks ahead, Ashling said: “Hopefully we get a miracle.

But if [the CT scan], if the brain stem testing comes back and shows that there’s no brain activity, that she is confirmed to have brain stem death, the doctors have advised that usually within 48 hours of all that being confirmed, life supports and machines will be withdrawn.

“So we will be looking at saying our final advice to Danielle, most likely funeral arrangements, trying to get the boys to a place where they’ll even be able to attend a funeral with their mam.

“It’s just a very difficult week ahead.”

On the family’s GoFundMe, she added: “That’s where you can offer your donation, but if you don’t have a donation to offer – a share. If you share the link, just get it out there you know.

“Also your kind words mean the world. Every little helps, you know?”

Ashling also said she felt that rickshaws did not have “enough rules around them being on the road” along with not enough policing for those rules.

She added: “It’s basically a vehicle, you know, they’re motorised, they go up to 30 kilometres an hour. They go very, very quick.

“The drivers of these would typically not enforce seat belt use like you would maybe in a car.

Like if you’re pedalling on a bike, you’d wear a helmet.

“You’re not asked to wear a helmet when you’re going on board a rickshaw as a passenger.

“In my opinion, there’s not enough safety protocols in place.

“Even with the lanes that they go on, they’re in cycle lanes that aren’t wide enough for the carriages.

“So my personal feelings are there’s a lot of work needed to improve road safety and passenger safety.”

The fundraiser launched this week to help Danielle’s family with bills has raised over £102,000 (€119,860) at the time of writing.

One anonymous donor gave £50,000 to the campaign.

The GoFundMe page was set up by Danielle’s auntie Jackie Mullan to help her family “in any way we can”.

It reads: “My niece was involved in a serious road accident on Saturday night in Dublin; she is currently in ICU on a ventilator.

“She has a life-ending brain injury. She has two little boys who are five and two, her husband was to start a new job today and is now unable to start as he is with his seriously injured wife.

“We want to help in any way we can with bills as they continue to come in.

“Any donation is greatly appreciated along with prayers and thank you in advance for any donations.”

Gardai continue to appeal to anyone who witnessed the horror collision to come forward.

A spokesperson for the force said: “Road users who may have camera footage, including dash-cam, and were travelling in the vicinity of North Wall Quay on Saturday, 26 September between 10:30pm and 11:15pm, are asked to make this available to investigating Gardai.

“Anyone with information is asked to contact Store Street Garda Station on 01 666 8000, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111, or any Garda station.”

Donations can be made here.