One man marathon for Little Blue Heroes
While the Cork City Marathon is cancelled, one man won’t be stopped. Richie Halpin has decided to undertake a challenge of his own on September 12, in aid of Little Blue Heroes.
Little Blue Heroes is a not for profit charity operated entirely by volunteers made up of garda members and staff, retired garda members, their families, friends and other civic minded people.
The aim of Little Blue Heroes is to help families in need from local communities in Ireland who have children undergoing long term medical treatment for serious illness.
Aglish man Richie Halpin had intended running the Cork marathon for the first time, in particular for Glencairn local Jordan Power, who has spent a lot of time up and down to Temple Street Children’s Hospital undergoing treatment.
Jordan has a number of conditions including Hypomelanosis of Ito, Pierre Robin syndrome, sleep apnea and is profoundly hypermobile with dislocating joints, seizures and scoliosis.
Richie, who used to work with Jordan’s late father, wanted to do something more for the family after the passing of Jordan’s father. Since then, Richie became involved with Little Blue Heroes through his wife Emer, who is a member of An Garda Siochana.
ALTERNATIVE RUN
Following the cancellation of the Cork City Marathon, the West Waterford man is now going to undertake his own marathon run on September 12, from the Waterford Institute of Technology Campus to the Garda Station in Dungarvan, in the hopes of raising much needed funds for Little Blue Heroes.
Over the years, Little Blue Hereos have helped Jordan in multiple ways. According to Richie, “Jordan is kind of part of the garda family now.”
Richie, who has set up a GoFundMe page for donations to the cause, said he never thought it would get up to €700.
“But now I’m sharing it on every platform to try and bulk it up a little and hopefully get it past the thousand.”