Eugene O'Leary

My name is Eugene O'Leary. I am a 71 year old cyclist! ("The Pedalling Pensioner!") My daughter, Helen was a patient of Our Lady's Children's Hospital, Crumlin until she was eighteen years old. She died one year after leaving the care of the hospital (February 2002), and having her care transferred to an adult hospital. In order to show some appreciation for the wonderful work done by the hospital in enabling my wife and I, together with her brothers and sisters to enjoy the gift of having an angel in our family for nineteen years, I started to do fundraising cycles for Our Lady's Children's Hospital, nine years ago. I have raised over €70,000 for the Children's Medical & Research foundation which is the fundraising arm for both the Foundation and the hospital, over the last nine summers, by doing a series of 8 hour static cycles (on a training frame) on Bank Holiday weekends, at the entrance to the East Pier, Howth, Co. Dublin and in various shopping centres.

My fundraising cycles are done in recognition of the wonderful care that our daughter was given, while a patient of Our Lady's Children's Hospital. My ten-year old grandson (Dylan) was also a patient of the hospital and received chemotherapy treatment over a period of six months for non-malignant but very aggressive bone tumours. He received excellent care and was given the "all clear" 4 years ago.

I have taken part in the hospitals overseas cycle challenges in Durban, South Africa; Lake Balaton, Hungary; Flagstaff, Arizona; Niagara, Ontario; Monterey, California; Athens, Georgia and Riccione, Italy. Each of these challenges entailed cycling a distance of 100 kilometres (62 miles) a day for five days. In 2008, I cycled 1,146 km. (712 miles) from Howth Head to Malin Head to Mizen Head over a period of nine days. In May and June of 2010, I cycled 1745 km. (1,084 miles) from Faro in Portugal to Bergerac in France, via Portugal, Spain and the Pyrenees and raised a further €4,465 in sponsorship for the Children's Medical and Research Foundation of Our Lady's Children's Hospital, Crumlin. I did another long fundraising cycle in May of (2011) when I cycled 478 miles on the Camino de Santiago, and last year I became the first Irish person to start a cycle on the Arctic Circle and then cycle the 1,150 kms. southwards to Helsinki via Haparanda, Sweden. Please visit: http://www.cmrf.org/user_main/fundraiser/33839