Neighbours run 190km for charity

Two neighbouring families have, in an overnight challenge, run almost the length of Co Cork to raise funds for the oncology department in the Mercy University Hospital.

The families completed the 190km ‘Phil’s Road Run’ after leaving Mizen Head in Co Cork at midnight on Friday. They arrived in Youghal on Saturday evening after a number of friends and neighbours of both families took part in the event.

The event was run in memory of a mother, Phil Terry, who died from cancer late last year.

The Terry family, originally from Old Parish, near Dungarvan, Co Waterford, have lived next door to the Healy family in Youghal.

Ms Terry underwent surgery in the Mercy University Hospital for bile duct cancer in Feb 2012. However, the cancer recurred and, despite chemotherapy, she passed away in December.

Phil’s husband, Pad Joe, to whom she was married for 44 years, said: “We were so impressed with the wonderful care and understanding afforded to my wife and family that we wanted to give something back.

“Our great neighbour and friend Jimmy Healy concocted the mad idea of running the length of Cork and that’s what we have done.”

Pad Joe’s daughter Eithne said the health care provided “made bearable an unbearable situation”.

The Saturday run, across 11 stages, saw at least one member of each family on the road at all times.

An executive fundraiser for the Mercy Hospital, Rosemary O’Leary says voluntary campaigners raise about €1.8m annually for the facility.

Most recently, she said, fundraisers had provided over €1m of scanning equipment for a new CT centre, which recently diagnosed a brain aneurysm its 15-year-old predecessor had failed to detect.