THE 24 hours between September 7 and 8 in Croagh, County Limerick, will see a “poignant but hopeful” event take place to raise money for the Irish Cancer Society (ICS).
The ‘Relay for Life’ in Limerick has so far raised more than €16,000 for the ICS, with teams signing up to do 24-hour walkathons.
Croagh man Timmy Sheils has a very special reason for being one of the organisers – his fiancée, Vanessa Lundahl, passed away just before her 36th birthday from brain cancer.
“She fought so hard for three years, but in the end, the treatments were all done. The work the Irish Cancer Society does is fantastic. We were looking at the Relay for Life event in others parts of the country and realised it had never been held in Limerick before so thought, why not?”, Timmy told the Limerick Post.
So far there are 15 teams signed up to take part in the fundraising event.
“The aim is to have someone on the track all the time. Everyone can set their own pace, some people have set goals. Some of us will be camping out overnight,” Timmy said.
“We’re going to have a survivor’s lap to start the event, with survivors and their friends and families, and we’ll have a choir and a tea party. We’ll also have a silent lap to remember those who have gone.
“It will be a poignant event, but also a hopeful one, with the emphasis on survival.”
People can sign up to take part or doante at relayforlife.ie and there are candle packs available to buy as well.
Timmy says that “if people buy a candle bag, they can specify a name of someone they want to remember, for any reason, or the name of someone who is living that they want to celebrate.”
“For the night-time part of the event, we will light the packs and place them all along the track to light it up for the people walking.”
At the end of the walking event, there will be a camogie tournament at 1pm on Sunday.
“This will be in memory of Paul Kenny, a local clubman who was very involved in camogie. His three daughters are very talented players,” said Timmy.
“People have been so supportive and we hope that more will sign up or donate. Our original goal was to raise €10,000 and we have already surpassed that.”
