TOM O’KEEFFE ULTRA MARATHON FUNDRAISING FOR I.C.U. & LIVER UNIT

Tom O’Keeffe, who lives in Cheshire in England, recently organised an ingenious series of activities to raise funds for The Intensive Care and Liver Units in St. Vincent’s. Tom was doing this in memory of his beloved cousin, Olivia, who died in St. Vincent’s in December 2021. Tom ran an Ultramarathon to coincide with the 2nd anniversary of Olivia’s death. Tom’s ultimate commitment was to run 1 Km for every £100 donated by the anniversary date. Given the phenomenal response of over £9,000 donated by that time, Tom ran 90.3 Km in 12 hours and 10 minutes of “moving time”. This feat of endurance is difficult for most of us to comprehend.

Tom supplemented this major undertaking by adopting other challenges during the six months of fundraising from July to December. These included swimming 5 marathons in 5 days and completing the “David Goggins 4/4/48 Challenge”(where he ran 4 miles every 4 hours for 48 hours).

Subsequent to these super-human endeavours, Tom received further donations, ultimately raising £15,213.66 (€17,380.16). €11,423.11 was donated to I.C.U. and €5,957.05 to the Liver Unit.

Tom came from England and with some of the O’Keeffe family to presented the final proceeds. We are so grateful for this supreme contribution as well as being in awe of his achievements.

Pictured presenting the fundraising proceeds to John Hickey, St. Vincent’s Foundation are members of the O’Keeffe family as follows

Bingo Night in Arklow Bay Hotel, 25/11/2023 & St. Stephen’s Day Charity Swim 2023 in Memory of Eamon Burke R.I.P. fundraising for the Liver Unit

We have previously highlighted the phenomenal fundraising of Eamon & Mary Burke and their family for the Liver Unit. We also carried a feature on Eamon’s death in April 2023, acknowledging the wonderful friendship he has shown to St. Vincent’s over so many years.

Continuing the generosity that Eamon & Mary have always demonstrated, the family organised the annual St. Stephen’s Day Swim and in addition held a Bingo Night in November. Through all these efforts they raised €14,100 for St. Vincent’s Liver Unit. This brings to almost €85,000 the cumulative sum contributed to the Unit.

On a very poignant visit to the hospital Mary and her family were photographed presenting the outcome, which was a record fundraising achievement for them in any one year. Our sincere thanks to the family and to all their supporters.

Pictured presenting the fundraising proceeds to John Hickey, St. Vincent’s Foundation are from L.to R. Dean Dickenson, Clive Burke, Mary Wood, Mary Burke & David Burke.

Louis Corrigan’s Dye & Shave for N.E.T.

Louis Corrigan from County Meath is currently receiving treatment in St. Vincent’s. With enormous generosity, Louis decided to undertake a “Dye and Shave” fundraising event to raise funds for Neuro Endocrine Tumour research in the hospital.

Louis originally set a target of €1,500 for his fundraising but the support he received far exceeded his expectations and a magnificent total of €11,340 was raised. We would like to express our since thanks to those generous people who supported this fantastic initiative.

Louis and several family members recently presented the fundraising proceeds to St. Vincent’s Foundation.

Again, we thank Louis, his family and supporters for this wonderful contribution for N.E.T. research here in St. Vincent’s and wish him the very best for his treatment and future health.

Present with Louis for the cheque presentation photo to John Hickey, St. Vincent’s Foundation, at the Cedar Ward in St. Vincent’s Private Hospital, were his wife Ger, his son Ronan (who also got his head shaved), his sister Pam and her two daughters Mairead (who did the head shaving) and Maedbh (who also got her head shaved), along with members of the SVPrivate team treating Louis, including Consultant Surgeon, Mr. Anthony Stafford. Louis’s brother Paschal also attended to take the photograph