Keir's tribute to his deaf brother

Keir Daly is a musician and the brother of one of our members, Calum Daly, who will be having surgery for a cochlear implant this week. Today, Keir has released a song on the internet that he wrote about his brother in 2010. You can hear it below (it also has subtitles). Calum also has his own blog and has featured previously on PDDCS News making films and signed song music videos. What a creative set of lads!

Keir wrote this on Facebook about his brother and the special significance of the song.

"One of the first songs I ever recorded was "Song for Calum" (on my first album, "Twenty-First Century Man", 2010). It was for my younger brother Calum, who was born profoundly deaf and has been a British Sign Language user all his life. I always found it ironic that he could never hear my music.

I have to admit that the original recording has always annoyed me because my "Ooohs" had a flattened second instead of a natural fifth note. However, the song has a special significance for me today, because in a few hours Calum is going in to Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge to have surgery to have cochlear implants (the surgery is early tomorrow morning UK time).

I am many miles away from my brother right now, so I decided to re-record the song to let him know that I am thinking about him and hoping for success with his surgery. Who knows? The great thing may be that he can hear this song once he has recovered from the operation. I hope so, and I think he is very courageous to have made this choice. So, Calum, as the song says - this one's for you.