Gareth O'Callaghan makes radio return following near-fatal asthma attack - Extra.ie
Beloved DJ Gareth O'Callaghan has revealed he suffered a near fatal asthma attack days after he decided to go back on radio and said he came within two minutes of death.
Gareth had to step away from radio in 2018 after being diagnosed with multiple system atrophy, a condition similar to motor neurone disease.
Broadcasting on Classic Hits, Gareth has told listeners how his life has changed since receiving his diagnosis.
'I found you have to become your own boss. There's no one telling you, "do this, do that". It's almost like as if you have to say, "Right I'm after getting the news now I've got to rewrite the rest of my life".
'So I can sit here and I can do anything and I can get very down and depressed which I can't blame people for doing because it's an awful belt to you,' he said.
Gareth told listeners that he's going to keep battling to save his voice and holds the words of Charlie Bird close to his heart.
'Or you can start getting up and doing stuff and staying healthy, staying active. I've been staying active, I've been singing, I've been doing my speech therapy every day. I think Charlie Bird put it so succinctly on the Late Late Show, "my voice is me to everybody who doesn't know me".
'They've told me that the voice will go and I'm saying, "Not if I can help it",' he added.
Gareth told RTE's Today Show about the near fatal asthma attack after being offered a slot on Classic Hits.
He explained: 'Classic Hits rang and said, "How do you fancy a Saturday show?" And I said, "What time is the next train? I'll be there". That was in October but then I had a near fatal asthma attack in November so I ended up in CUH for almost three weeks because that affected so many other things inside me.
'Then I came out and I got COVID. So the whole thing that had been planned for October and it was now February. But it's wonderful being back.'
The incident, while harrowing, helped put his life into perspective as 'life is extra special'.
'There were moments when we were waiting for the ambulance in the front garden, paramedics said if they had been another two minutes, I wouldn't have made it. When you get those kind of calls, you really think every radio show is going to be extra special because life is extra special,' he said.
Looking back on his time with 2FM, Garreth branded the period 'from 1990 up to about 2002' as 'the greatest days of radio'.
'At that stage they used to call it the band because you had Larry Gogan, Gerry Ryan, Ian Dempsey, Dave Fanning, Barry Lang, Tony Fenton, Marty Whelan.
'We were cool dudes you know even though we didn't realise how popular we were because they were never going to tell you how many listeners you had. As you know back then there was no social media, you were only relying on emails and texts,' he said.
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