The Fall Guy

Tom O’Mahoney 27AUG21

here are many, many ways to tackle the old midlife how-did-I-get-here? crisis…

There’s the sports car, the extra-marital affair, slyly doubling your medication, or just hanging out in Robinson’s every night.

For Tom O’Mahony, coming to the end of 35 years of full-on 9-to-9, he decided it was time to start checking off his bucket list.

Which is why tomorrow, Saturday 28th, the man is going to jump 13,000 feet from a plane. And hurtle through the clouds at speeds of up to 200km per hour.

“Well, I’ve never skydived before,” smiles the man from the old Killincarrig clan, “and now, with no particular place to go, I thought it was about time that I actually went up there in a plane. And came back down without the plane.”

Having officially hit middle-age, our 59-year-old skydiver will no doubt be bringing a thick sweater with him to sunny Kilkenny tomorrow, with this giant leap for The Caroline Foundation clearly being close to Tom’s heart. In particular, he wants the skydive to highlight the work being done by Professor John Crown, one of Ireland’s leading oncologists specialising in breast cancer.  With some 37,000 people diagnosed with cancer every year in Ireland, Tom is an avid admirer of Crown and the Foundation’s founders, Helen and Dermod Dwyer.

“Cancer is something that touches pretty much every family on some level,” he says. “So, having people like John, Helen and Dermod out there doing everything they can when it comes to understanding and combatting breast cancer, how can you not admire such work…?

With less than 24 hours to go before Tom’s great gig in the sky, we decided to find out a little more about the chump, the jump and being pumped…

You can find out more about The Caroline Foundation here, and go donate to Tom’s skydive right over here.