This Kerry woman has completed 12 marathons in just eight months for Mercy Hospital

A few short months ago, Kerry man Pat Doody was engaged in a desperate battle — fighting for his life against oesophageal cancer.

Now, he is healthy, happy and has, amazingly, just finished his first marathon, spurred on by his wife Brenda who recently completed her own goal of 12 marathons in the last eight months.

The mammoth trek began in March when Brenda, inspired by the level of care her husband received in Cork’s Mercy Hospital, decided she wanted to give something back.

“I really wanted to fund-raise, to say thank you for everything. They were all super, I couldn’t praise them enough. The level of care and the level of concern there was amazing, nothing was a problem,” she said.

Brenda kicked off the series of events in March, running the Tralee marathon to fund cancer research at the facility.

She followed up with marathons in Connemara, Limerick, Cork, Waterford, Killarney, four in Donegal and another in Dingle.

The final few kilometers took place in Dublin at the end of October and Pat, despite having undergone extensive chemotherapy, radiotherapy and a 10-hour surgery to have his oesophagus removed, was well enough to accompany Brenda on the last marathon.

“It was such a proud moment when we crossed the finish line together. Twelve months ago Pat was being fed through a feeding tube and now he is 13 months cancer free,” said Brenda. “Hopefully this will put a line in the sand after the last year and everything we’ve been through and hopefully it will be all good from here on in.”

Initially, Brenda wanted to raise €5,000 — she has now raised almost six times that amount and hopes to hit the €30,000 mark shortly.

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