Learning dad was going to die was like a double decker ramming me

Aslan star's daughter 'traumatic' time

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CHRISTY Dignam's daughter felt like a “double-decker bus was rammed" into her face the day she realised her father was going to die.

The Aslan frontman passed away aged 63 on June 13, 2023 after a lengthy battle with cancer.

But his only child Kiera Dignam said his loss is still so raw for her and the details of his death were traumatic.

Christy was diagnosed with a rare form of blood cancer called amyloidosis in 2013 and had been in palliative care for a few months before his death.

Despite this, Kiera said she was in denial and didn't fully believe her father was dying until a nurse spelt it out.

The weekend before his death, the musician had a bad fall at home, and it was then that the family realised he might not have long left.

Speaking for the first time on The Grief Pod with Venetia Quick, the Dubliner has recalled the singer's final days.

Kiera said: "Sunday morning my mum rang me, she was up all night with him.

"We went down, we knew this wasn't good.

"I remember Darren [my husband] saying 'When we go down here if he is sick enough that he needs to go into the hospice I'm going to suggest that'.

"But he did not want to die in a hospice or a hospital, so I was saying 'Darren I have to have my dad's back on that. He doesn't want to die in a hospice, I'm not letting him go back'.

"So Darren said, 'Christy, do you think maybe we should go back to the hospice? So I looked at my dad like, 'We've got this'. And he said, 'Yeah, maybe'.

"I said, 'Are you winding me up? I was about to fight your corner here'.