Alan (17), from Letterkenny, suffers from an incredibly rare disease called Otofacial Syndrome. This means he is one of just two people in the world who have no chin.

Alan has never swallowed and he has never spoken. He communicates through a talking keyboard. He breathes and feeds through tubes in his throat and stomach. Alan's biggest wish is for, in his own words, " a perfect chin".

To this end, he has endured a world-first operation which saw a piece of his hip bone grafted on to his back. On Wednesday, surgeons in New York will transplant that bone to Alan's face and shape it into a chin.

Hopefully, the operation will be a complete success and Alan will gradually begin the process of learning to lead a normal life.

His bravery and determination have inspired everyone who has met him, or even read about his plight. It was churlish, therefore, for RTE's Late Late show to twice cancel interviews with Alan, particularly after he had changed his flights to accommodate them.

The very least RTE could do is to refund any money the Doherty family might be out because of their dithering.