#Down - Kathryn for the Eithne Walls Research Fund
Each year, since 2010, I run the Vhi Women’s Mini Marathon with a group of friends, family and staff of RVEEH, in memory of my sister, Dr Eithne Walls. Eithne had been an SHO in Ophthalmology at RVEEH.
On 1st June 2009 Eithne and her two friends, Dr Aisling Butler and Dr Jane Deasy, were passengers on the Air France flight that tragically disappeared over the Atlantic. All were young and talented doctors who would have made an amazing contribution to the lives of so many in Ireland.
Eithne had also been in Riverdance. In April 2010 Julian Erskine and Sean O'Brien from Riverdance contacted my family to say their dancers took part in the mini marathon each year for different charities and wanted to run 2010 in memory of Eithne. We suggested they raise funds for a fund that had sent up in Eithne’s name at RVEEH. This fund supports research into eye disease.
I hadn’t run even the length of myself before then, but made the effort to join the Riverdancers (my brothers were a little delighted they were exempt). That first year was tough – I had less than 8 weeks to go from couch to 10k! I have to admit I was a very reluctant runner –I used to drive past runners and think they were mad! But quite quickly my running time became my ‘Eithne time’. I would talk to her about my day, and would feel her calming personality wash away all the stress. Now I can’t do without it.
That first mini marathon day was so wonderful (despite the rain) that it became clear that we wanted to make this an annual event and try and raise more for the hospital’s research foundation. In 2011 our group had grown and aunts and cousins and friends joined in, as well as staff from the hospital. Every year since has been the same and over 60 people have taken part with us and raised funds for the Fund at the Research Foundation.
Eithne was very focused on doing all she could to help people suffering with eye disease. Our dad has Glaucoma and she had also spent time in Malawi with children suffering from River Blindness. She understood how precious the gift of sight is. The fund includes an annual research competition in Eithne’s name, the winner of which receives funding to support their further research and to present their work internationally. Young doctors who have taken part in the Eithne Walls Research Meeting have gone on to be part of crucial research projects bringing us closer to developing new treatments for conditions that cause blindness and deafness and broadening our understanding of how to treat and prevent eye and ear disease.
To date over €35,000 has been raised through the mini marathon for the Research Fund. For me, this is how we keep Eithne's goal of helping others alive, and a way of making up a tiny part of the difference she would have had she stayed with us.
Our fundraising page for this year is already up and running!! https://www.gofundme.com/f/eithne-walls-research-fund-2020
In the years since 2010 I have dropped my 10k pb from 67 minutes to 45 (although I'm definitely slower after lockdown!!). I don't have a particular goal time when I run the mini marathon – I prefer to use this event to run with friends, perhaps help them towards a goal time/pb or just soak up the incredible atmosphere. I have taken running more seriously since 2010 and have been fortunate to complete events large and small locally and abroad, including the Dublin and NY marathons. However, none compare to the atmosphere and joy of the Vhi Women’s Mini Marathon.
There is something extraordinary about the Vhi Women’s Mini Marathon - in being one of such a large number of women of all ages and from all corners of the island who have made a huge effort to run, walk or jog on this day. Seeing the range of charities represented, seeing faces of loved ones on t-shirts and feeling that sense of unity is unlike anything I’ve experienced anywhere else.
There is so much encouragement from everyone taking part and those on the sidelines. You are a superhero for a day, whether you come first or last. Everyone is making a difference. Many running events carry a sense that they are only for the fast ones. This is where the Vhi Women’s Mini Marathon is different. While it attracts some of the island’s fastest runners and is a seriously competitive event, it somehow manages the impossible and lets everyone have a place and a pace. I intend to take part every year for as long as I am able! I wouldn’t miss it!
It was naturally disappointing when the Covid-19 crisis meant that the mini marathon was postponed, but it was completely the right decision for the health and safety of everyone involved. I was delighted when the virtual event was announced and will absolutely be taking part - and rallying as many as I can to join in as well! My sister-in-law, Nuala, and I did run our own 10k together on 31st May and got some great support for the hospital but we can do more with the virtual event hopefully.
If restrictions still permit it, I'll get a group of friends and family together and we will run together (socially distant of course) on the beautiful lanes and roads around my family home where Eithne spent time growing up. I have wonderful memories from our childhood together as we spent summers cycling these lanes - and to run there in her memory, surrounded by others who loved her would be amazing.
