Group of friends help raise €177k for charity in memory of Cork boy

Danny Crowley, 12, died at his home in Carragline in 2013 after a tough battle with a rare from of leukaemia

Éanna Desmond, Sam Martin, Paul Moran, Brian Kelleher, Eoghan Riordan and Scott Lonergan, together with family and friends of the late Danny Crowley at the Cork International Hotel Community Spirit Awards last Friday. Picture: Adrian O'Herlihy

A group of friends who have held an annual Christmas swim to honour a young Cork boy who died from leukaemia in 2013 have helped raise more than €177,000 for a worthy cause. 

Danny Crowley, 12, died at his home in Carragline in 2013 after a tough battle with a rare form of leukaemia.

The following month, a group of his friends, and 40 or so swimmers, braved the icy waters of the Atlantic off Myrtleville Beach for first annual Christmas Day charity swim in his memory.

At the event last Christmas, just over €24,000 was raised by more than 250 participants.

Indeed, since that first swim in 2013, the group has raised more than €177,000 for the Mercy Kids and Teens Appeal, and the Paediatric Outreach Oncology Nursing Service (Poons), which supports Cork’s youngest cancer patients.

Poons allows the Mercy University Hospital (MUH) to deliver a home-based option to children like Danny, which enhances their quality of life and allows for some normalisation of family life as they undergo cancer treatment.

Speaking at the Cork International Hotel Community Spirit Awards last Friday, where the figure fundraised in 2022 was announced, Danny's mother Majella said Poons and the entire team in the children’s leukaemia unit at MUH "provided invaluable support to Danny and our family when Danny was undergoing his treatment". 

"They went the extra mile, and we all appreciated the huge difference it made."

She said the funds raised through the swim over the last decade could help ensure families who find themselves in similar situations, "have the support to help them on what is an incredibly difficult journey for any family to undertake".

"What started with about 40 swimmers in 2013, saw more than 500 swimmers brave the water annually in recent years," she added.

"We are so proud of what has been achieved, and want to extend a massive thank you to anyone who supported the event."