Tanya Roberts Brown living and loving life, chapter by chapter

Songs, it’s often said, can act as bookmarks in life.

For Tanya Roberts, there is one such moment that brings a tear to her eye, even now.

A single mother at 18 to Oisín, who was born with cerebral palsy, and although not diagnosed with autism till almost in his teens, Tanya didn’t need a piece of paper to confirm what she knew. Her baby spent the majority of his infancy in hospital. She was told Oisín would never be able to walk or talk.

“It was tough,” she says, looking back. “We just hoped for the best. If I had the choice, would I have wanted Oisín to walk or to talk? I would have to say talk. I craved for him to say ‘mammy’. It’s tough for any mother that age. Having a child with such complex medical needs, I had to grow up very fast.”

When Oisín was born, Tanya’s brother Eric was 15 and their sister Jessica 11. Their dad Bobby is from Seville Place in Dublin’s north inner city, which couldn’t be more different from mum Frances’ homeplace in Glen in the sand-duned north-west of Donegal.

Tanya was nine when they moved from Raheny, where there were 90 pupils in fourth class at St Brigid's Girls National School in Killester, while in Scoil Eoin Baisten in Carrigart, she was one of two girls.

“I couldn’t understand why the nearest shop was 10 minutes' drive away,” Tanya laughs.

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Tanya used to play Oisín music on her Sony Ericsson flip phone.

One night, Tanya and her future husband, Paddy - she’s Tanya Roberts Brown now - stopped flicking at X-Factor, the British reality television music show where hopefuls seek to impress the judges and launch a career.

During a re-run of Alexandra Burke’s stunning Hallelujah - Christmas No 1 in 2008 - Oisín, who was five or six and non-verbal, began to sing along.

“I was absolutely amazed,” Taya adds. “Stunned. I couldn’t believe it. From then on, Oisín could talk - and sing! It was something we never thought would happen. I’ll never forget that moment.”

When Oisín was born, Tanya had finished first year of Legal Studies at Letterkenny Institute of Technology. However, needing a timetable to fit Oisín’s needs, she studied Child Development and Special Needs and in 2010, opened Rainbows Pre-School in Carrigart.

These days, there’s also Bobby (11), an accomplished footballer with Glenree United and Finn Harps under-11s and Lili Rose (9), who has already played at Croke Park in Downings’ colours.

“My family were always a great help and Eric looked out for Oisín,” Tanya adds. “They’re so close. Eric takes Oisín to concerts and has sleepovers and Eric was initially a Special Needs Assistant (SNA) with me in Carrigart before working at Mulroy College in Milford, where mum has been an SNA for over 20 years.”

Having started her own business and with Oisín’s condition, Tanya didn’t have much spare time. These days, she spends “only seven days a week” in sport.

“When Oisín was young, there was nothing for him,” Tanya adds. “All he ever saw was the inside of clinics - sometimes four or five times a week. I saw my friends playing football with Downings and saw the fun they were having.

“I managed to get to play later and won the All-Ireland Junior Comórtas Peile Na Gaeltachta in 2018. Jessia decided to get involved, having seen the craic it was. Now she’s captain of the Downings senior ladies team.”

During the pandemic, Downings, like many GAA clubs, felt the pinch, so much so Eoin Byrne, then club chairman, penned a plea.

“A letter said income from lotto was down, income from bingo was down, there were no games, so there were no gates. I called Eoin and told him I had an idea, which he could pass to the fundraising committee. ‘What fundraising committee?’ was his answer!”

“I set up a 5k-a-day for Downings GAA, which ended up being 50K for the GAA, where people would walk, a Strava group was set up online and local businesses sponsored prizes. It made €1,500.”

Downings soon needed a Bord na nÓg Chairperson. Tanya stepped in, where a nugget of advice from the club’s current senior manager, Maxi Curran, who was then manager of Donegal ladies, still sticks in her mind.

“He said, like anything, just start at the bottom and work up,” Tanya says. “Start with the nursery group and go from there. I was coaching the under-6 team and that group is now under-12 and for the first time, they have two teams. It’s a lot of fun.”

Downings’ men have climbed from Division 4 to Division 1 in recent years, rose from Junior to Senior Football Championship and performed in the 2021 Ulster Intermediate final. The ladies have had a similar path. In 2024, they won Ulster reached the LGFA All-Ireland Junior Championship final. And off the field, the foundations are sturdy too.

“Be respectful - everyone has a role, everyone is equally important,” Tanya says. “Someone might play for the first team, and someone might fill water bottles. Others make sandwiches for underage teams. We have people who take photos, which help promote the club, and we’re so thankful to all."

Tanya did a Social Media and Marketing diploma from UCD in 2023, which added to her skillset. Downings aimed to offer an inclusive, diverse and welcoming environment and as they looked into GAA For All, one of the facets that needed to be ticked to obtain a healthy club status.

“Oisín had nothing growing up but I didn’t push for it for me or him,” Tanya, who worked with Finghin McClafferty, adds. "He’s 18 now. It’s for those coming behind, and I know being a parent of a child with additional needs can be lonely. We could get something locally, which could act as a support. I met parents, and they had thought of the idea before and just wanted someone to push it.”

Downings launched their five-year development plan, which aims to have the club ‘achieve excellence in everything we do’ by its golden jubilee year of 2027. Ciaran McLaughlin, the President of the Ulster Council, spoke about ‘inclusivity’ to Tanya.

Downings formed the GAA All-Star Team and by 2023 Jarlath Burns was about to step in as Uachtarán Cumann Luthchleas Gael. He popped Tanya a WhatsApp and soon she was named National Chairperson of GAA For All.

“Jarlath asked if I would be interested in a role when he became president,” Tanya adds. “I was jumping up and down in the kitchen. He’s so for inclusion. To come in and be on a national committee is unbelievable, he later told me, but to go in as national chair was unheard of.”

When Oisín graduated from Little Angels in Letterkenny, he started his new chapter at Soar Letterkenny, a part of the National Learning Network, only to be denied travel at the last minute. Again, Tanya had to fight for her son, with Eric, a social influencer and Ireland AM presenter, highlighting the issue.

Eric’s huge social media presence - 750,000 on TikTok and 420,000 on Instagram - has meant the family are now, whether they like it or not, celebrities.

“Dad would always tell us to get the camera away,” Tanya adds. “These days, he’s asking me to make sure he’s tagged on anything that might be posted! A few weeks ago, Oisín was in hospital for a minor surgery and the nurses said to him they heard there was a celebrity in the ward.

“Even now, Oisín can’t communicate his emotions. But he will sing, and the songs refer to his situation. That day in hospital, just when he was with the anaesthetist, he sang that line from Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody ‘I’m just a poor boy …’, to which I replied that we’d be right here for him. He hugged me and sang ‘I've never known a girl like you before …’.

There have been plenty of bookmarks as Tanya continues to write chapters.

“With Oisín, I always hoped that I would be able to give him a decent life, but it’s because of him I’m doing what I’m doing today. When he was born, we took every day and just hoped for the best. Now, he brings hope to people.”