13 family members walk 1,500k for breast cancer fundraiser
Thirteen female members of a Wexford family walked a combined total of approximately 1,500 kilometres between them as part of a nationwide fundraising campaign which has realised over €1.2 million and counting for Breast Cancer Ireland.
The Stafford family of Barntown, which includes a number of women who are breast cancer survivors, signed up for the initiative organised by County Louth couple Niall and Ciara O’Connor.
Joan Mackey, Joanne Connick, Denise Stafford, Jessie Stafford, Carrie Stafford, Margaret Maher, Breda Stafford Furlong, Emily Jane Furlong, Kathleen Stafford, Shauna Boyne, Louise Atkins Stafford, Leanne Stafford and Anne Stafford each walked 100km (and longer distances in some cases), mostly around the Forth Mountain area.
The group includes sisters, daughters, nieces and sistersin-law, all members of the same family, who took on the challenge for the ‘sake of giving back and paying forward’, according to Joan Mackey (nee Stafford), whose granddaughter Cecelia was born in the middle of the initiative on June 23.
‘My niece Jessie, who is a garda in Cork, came up with the idea of doing it after seeing it on Instagram’, she said.
‘We did most of it on the Three Rocks Trail. We walked the legs off ourselves up the rocks, down beaten tracks and over stony pathways. We went together sometimes and alone other times. We had to socially distance because we are all from different households.
‘Once the restrictions were relaxed, we started to go in groups, meeting afterwards at my house for a socially distanced cup of tea,’ she said.
‘I was cocooning and went on my own a few times because I was keen to get it done before my baby granddaughter arrived, in case she came early. I did 162 km in about 14 days. She was born on June 23.’
‘Jessie did most of hers in Cork but she was home for a week and walked every day for six days when she was here’, said Joan.
Each of them paid a registration fee of €30 and after every walking session, they posted a photo with a link asking people to donate. Individual members also made personal donations.
The 100km in 30 days challenge ran for the month of June but the account has been left open to allow people to continue donating during July.
‘We would encourage people to go online and donate at www.100kin30days.ie’, said Joan.
The money raised is going to Breast Cancer Ireland to fund research programmes, in the hope that it will lead to breakthroughs in treatment options. It will also fund new state-ofthe-art imaging equipment at the new Breast Research Centre, which is due to open at Beaumont Hospital in the autumn of 2021.
Organisers Niall Carroll and his wife Cara McAdam, who was diagnosed with breast cancer before Christmas 2019, ran the fundraiser for a number of years in their local community. This year, they decided to expand it and set themselves the target of getting 1,000 people to run or walk 100km in 30 days, with the aim of raising €100,000. The couple have been ‘surprised and overwhelmed’ by the response, with over 14,500 people from every county in Ireland and 34 countries all over the world, registering for the event. ‘It’s incredible what has been achieved and we can’t thank everyone enough for getting behind the campaign’, said Niall.