TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Ed Sheeran serenaded ill fan before her last breath
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
Singer Ed Sheeran poses for photographers upon arrival at the Brit Awards 2017 in London, Feb. 22, 2017. (Invision/AP/Joel Ryan)
Three years ago, a critically ill teenager died peacefully while listening to Ed Sheeran’s euphoric voice.
The heart-wrenching story of 15-year-old Triona Priestly was brought to light when her brother Aiden appeared on Ireland’s The Ray D’Arcy Show. He said that before she passed away due to cystic fibrosis in April 2014, the British singer-songwriter fulfilled her last desideratum to sing her favorite song of his.
“We were in this small little ICU room. Triona in this huge bed covered in tubes and machines,” Aiden narrated. “My brother left the room. He returned then and said, ‘I’m just going to put you on loudspeaker,’ and he clicks it, then Ed Sheeran comes on and saying, ‘Hi Triona. I hear you’re a big fan.”
Aidan Priestley on @edsheeran's amazing act of kindness to his late sister Triona in her last moments. #RayDarcy pic.twitter.com/RWh3ggQYl6
— The Ray D'Arcy Show (@RTERayDarcyShow) April 15, 2017
Sheeran began chanting Triona’s favorite song “Little Bird” until her last breath. Aiden continued, “Then, we hang up on him – probably a bit rude at the time – the doctor lifts the stethoscope to tell us her heart had stopped. And we take the mask off because she’d been on a machine to breathe – and in that moment, I remember, a burst of light comes from the window and she smiled.”
Read also: Ed Sheeran is coming... to season 7 of 'Game of Thrones'
Irish Mirror reported that Sheeran reached out to Trina’s family after Twitter users boosted her final wish through the hashtag #SongForTri. After her unfortunate passing, he tweeted his sympathies, “Rest in peace, Triona. So heartbreaking.”
Rest in peace Triona, so heartbreaking x
— Ed Sheeran (@edsheeran) April 1, 2014
This is not the first time Sheeran, who recently dropped his third studio album “Divide,” showed compassion to his ill and disabled fans. Last year, he reaped admiration from netizens for serenading a 9-year-old bedridden fan in England.
