THE family of Connemara pony enthusiast Colm Costello (28) has been overwhelmed by the support offered since the popular Ballinamore man was hospitalised last August.

“Colm was over in America with Niamh, his girlfriend, visiting his aunt and just wasn’t feeling well when he got home,” explained his father Paul. Referred from Cavan General Hospital to St Vincent’s, Colm was placed in an induced coma as doctors, with the help of Oxford University, narrowed down the cause of his illness to a rare autoimmune disorder.