This article is from page 29 of the 2007-03-06 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 29 JPG
GERRY Dunleavy was back in Doo- lin last week to help launch details for this year’s Michael Dunleavy Walk which will take place on April ey
The walk, which is now in its fifth year, 1S dedicated to the memory of Gerry’s young son Michael, who died aged just eight, because of an inoperable brain tumour.
The group, which has raised more than €90,000 for the Irish Cancer Society over the last four years, are hoping that this year’s event will be
the most successful to date.
“We are really hoping to push it this year. This is the fifth anniver- sary of the walk so we want to pull out all the stops. We want to make it the biggest walk ever,” said organiser Mary O’Connor. “It will be the same route as usual. We will start at the Russell Centre and people can have their choice of two routes, one of five miles or one of a shorter distance.
‘All the money raised goes towards the Irish Cancer Society. We try to channel the money towards child- hood cancer and research. We also save a good part of the money raised
to help local children who are suffer- ing from different illnesses.”
The Michael Dunleavy Foundation was established by Gerry and Toni Dunleavy in Boston in 2002. Doo- lin native Gerry and his Dublin-born Toni set up the charity following the death of their son Michael in Amer1- ca on December 28, 2002.
“We hope that our fundraiser will be an important element in the fight against cancer and brain tumours,” continued Mary. “Technology is moving at breakneck speed towards finding the cause of this disease but it requires a big investment that now
one of us could afford. But together we can help to hasten the day that a cure for cancer would be found.”
The money raised will be used pri- marily in the area of research into childhood cancer and in the support of affected families. A portion of this money also goes to help fund special- ists nurses who work on a one-to-one basis with child suffers of cancer.
Anyone interested in taking part in the walk can contact Mary on 087 9080412. A special bank account for all donations has been set up at the Bank of Ireland in Ennistymon, Ac- count number 32884701.