Stolen bike drives Liverpool campaign to help sick Irish girl

A Limerick father whose bicycle was stolen during a charity cycling event in Liverpool has told of his joy that a campaign to help his sick daughter has been launched in the British city.

Liam Mulcahy was one of six Irishmen left devastated last June when their bikes and valuables were robbed as they took a break from a charity cycle event to visit Anfield, the home ground of Liverpool Football Club.

Liam founded a charity last year to help his daughter Sophie, 8, who was given just four days to live after she was born.

Sophie is one of only 40 people in the world to suffer from a condition called 1q43 Deletion, which has left her unable to walk, talk, or feed herself, and which required her to undergo six heart surgeries in the first year of her life.

But her courage inspired Liam to set up the organisation ‘cycle4sickchildren’, which in turn led him and five pals to travel to Liverpool to raise funds to benefit the families of 96 Liverpool supporters who were crushed to death at Hillsborough in 1989.

It was while Liam, a devoted Liverpool fan, was enjoying a tour of Anfield with his fellow cyclists that the van in which the group was travelling and where five expensive bicycles had been stored, was ransacked.

The loss of the still unrecovered customised bike was particularly poignant for Liam, as it featured his name, Sophie’s name, and her date of birth.

But yesterday the 33-year-old, who has two other children with wife Stacey, said he has been given a massive lift by a new fundraising campaign initiated in Liverpool.

Liverpudlian Dawn Hall, who has formed the Facebook group, ‘To Sophie, from the people of Liverpool’, said: “I was so outraged with what happened to Liam and his friends in our city and I just know the people of Liverpool will come on board with this.”

Dawn, a senior carer in a nursing home, added: “I know a lot of people like myself would love to help and show this very brave family that not all the people of Liverpool are like that and we do have hearts as big as the Mersey. Let us take that journey with Sophie’s family and try and make it that little bit easier.”

Liam said the gesture has given him a much-needed lift, as Sophie’s health has declined in recent weeks and the family fear she may require a kidney transplant in the future.

The family are also due to receive test results from Crumlin Children’s Hospital this week, following a recently discovered tumour in Sophie’s stomach.

Liam said: “It’s a very anxious time at the moment, but the people of Liverpool have been unbelievable and it hasn’t surprised me that Dawn has done this. It’s a fantastic gesture.

“It’s the only official group supporting Sophie so far and we plan to have an iDonate.ie page up and running very soon. We’ll need to raise funds for her future care and to create a sterile environment for her. We want to give her the best quality of life we can. We’re just hoping for positive news from the test results.”

* For more information, see facebook.com/sophiemulcahy.journey and http://exa.mn/7ck