Youghal GAA raising vital funds for Cork's Mercy Hospital cancer unit

A Cork GAA club is raising much needed funds for the Mercy University Hospital with its 24 hour run in aid of the hospital’s cancer unit.

Youghal GAA players and management will take place in the 24 hour run on May 23rd which will see each player taking turns in running consistently for one hour.

Each player will be allocated a time and will run for one hour within a 5km boundary from their homes and in the hours of darkness, two players will run together while adhering to social distancing for added safety during the nighttime shift.

Manager of Youghal GAA Club Ken Bulman said that they might be able to use their own GAA pitch if it is allowed at that time and if not, players will adhere to the restrictions in place while completing their run in aid of the Mercy.

A total of 35 people including some members of the management team will take part on May 23rd.

“Everybody gave it a thumbs up on the WhatsApp group so pretty much everybody who is on our intermediate hurling panel and the management are involved in it,” Mr Bulman said.

He said that anyone can get involved and that a video including everyone's contribution to the cause will be posted on the club’s social media platforms following the event.

Mr Bulman’s daughter Shannen Joyce recently completed chemotherapy for Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma for the second time and The Mercy University Hospital was her primary place of treatment.

He said that players wanted to do something to support Shannen who was the face of this year’s Irish Cancer Society’s Daffodil Day as part of their training plan.

“All the lads are on a training plan at the moment and we wanted to aim towards something because obviously there’s going to be no matches in the short to long term. It came from the hurlers themselves, they wanted a project that they could aim for and incorporate into their training.

“They wanted to support Shannen so I spoke to Shannen and because her primary place of treatment was the Mercy Hospital and we did a fundraiser for the Mercy the first time she got sick, we opted to go with the Mercy Foundation again just to try and repay something back for all the good work they done for Shannen,” Mr Bulman said.

People are invited to take part in the 24 hour run on May 23rd and donate through the dedicated GoFundMe page here.