East versus West charity match in Cloonacool
THE popular St Stephen’s Day charity match hosted by Cloonacool GAA Club returns this year. It is taking place in the Community Park at 2pm. An East versus West game will be held with all proceeds going to the national charity ‘Operation Walk Ireland’.The charity provide hip and knee replacements for people in developing countries.
A former senior lady footballer with the club, Mary Marren, who is a nurse at the Galway Clinic in the city of the Tribes, is part of a group of volunteers of doctors and nurse specialists who will travel to the city of Hanoi in Vietnam in March 2018.
The aim of this trip is to do 60 joint replacements and provide education and supervised training to local doctors,nurses and physiotherapists.
The fundraising campaign is aimed at covering the cost of shipping, joint prostheses, surgical equipment, sterile supplies, medication disposables, dressings, crutches and walking frames etc.
They will be operating on patients who have advanced arthritis and are in considerable pain. Although joint replacement surgery is available in Vietnam, it costs three times the annual income.
‘Operation Walk Ireland’ has put together an amazing crew of 60 Irish volunteer medical staff (including Mary) to travel to Vietnam to perform this much needed surgery for so many deserving people. This project works at ground level to educate surgeons, anaesthetists, nurses and physiotherapists in the developing countries about joint replacement. The work rate and care from the crew is most inspiring. The Vietnamese patients are some of the kindest and most resilient people that the medical team have treated. It’s not life-saving work, but it’s definitely life-changing, for these Asian people. This mission would not have been possible without the wonderful support of so many sponsors all over the country.
The club hopes for some more support from the people of Cloonacool and the south Sligo region for Mary Marren and her team, at this fund raising charity match on St. Stephens day next in Cloonacool Community Park at 2pm. All those interested in sponsoring this event can do so by contacting club secretary Fergus Leonard or any club officer in the coming days. Mary has a GoFundMe page www.gofundme.com/operation-walk-vietnam