Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Dermot’s journey through heartache turns new page
Widower writes of his 1,000km walk on Ulster Way in tribute to wife struck down by cancer
A MAN who walked 1,000km in memory of his wife who died of ovarian cancer has captured his emotional journey in a new book.
Dermot Breen undertook a challenge to walk the whole of the Ulster Way in the summer of 2015 in memory of school teacher
Jacqui who passed away earlier that year.
After being cruelly struck down by the disease, Jacqui died following her 54th birthday – just 10 months after she was diagnosed.
Inseparable after meeting as teenagers at
Queen’s University,
Dermot was heartbroken and sought a focus for his grief in the Ulster Way tour, which took 38 days to complete.
More than £16,000 was raised for Cancer Research UK and Dermot’s experiences have been recorded in his book The Edge, by Shanway Press.
Proceeds from the memoir will also generate money for the charity.
The 56-year-old Belfast man said: “The best bit was getting to know parts of the country I had never seen before. The North Coast was particularly beautiful. There were also a number of low points.
“The book is subtitled Walking The Ulster Way With My Angels and Demons – the angels being Jacqui and a good friend who also died of cancer. “The demons were when I was feeling overwhelmed.
“When you’re on your own it is very isolated, it is a very remote wilderness. But when I was feeling down there was almost always some sign, like the sun breaking through, or a rainbow. It buoyed you up. I feel like Jacqui was with me every step of the way.”
Dermot recently retired from his job as deputy chief executive of the Health and Safety Executive and said he hoped his book would help others better understand their grief.
He added: “One of the reasons I wanted to share my experience was to help other people going through it.”
The book launch will take place at Greenisland Primary School, Co Antrim, where Jacqui taught, on Thursday.