Going the extra mile to help beat childhood cancer

When Aoife Lucey was 10, high-risk leukaemia turned her world upside down. Now, she’s running 10 half-marathons to help children facing cancer today

Aoife Lucey trains at Clondrohid Community Park, Co Cork, as she continues her 10 half-marathon challenge in support of Childhood Cancer Ireland.

Running a half marathon is no mean feat, but Aoife Lucey from Macroom, Co Cork, is undertaking not one, but 10, to raise funds for Childhood Cancer Ireland. The cause is close to her heart as she was diagnosed with cancer as a child and intends to do 10 runs, one for every year which has passed since her family was told that their 10-year-old had high-risk acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.

“I was diagnosed on September 9, 2015, six days before my 11th birthday,” she says. “My first symptoms were a sore throat and high temperature, which my GP initially thought was tonsillitis. But when I started to get small bruises on my stomach [about two weeks later], the panic began, and I was sent to the Mercy Hospital in Cork. The following morning, we received the news that I had cancer.