Multy man plans solo marathon for ‘Get Erika to America’ fund

Published: Tue 2 Jun 2020, 4:31 PM

Paul Moran (above) would say he isn’t really a runner.

He’s involved in (non-competitive) cycling and GAA, and he has played for Multy for many years.

Though he doesn’t consider himself a runner, he wanted a new challenge and had been planning on doing the Longford marathon later this year.

When it was cancelled because of the Covid-19 restrictions, Paul decided to complete a run on his own.

Then, he and his wife, Valentina, thought it would be a great idea to raise money for a good cause.

They were touched by the heartbreaking story of five-year-old Erika Martin and the ‘Get Erika to America’ fundraising efforts, as their daughter, Iva, was born on St Patrick’s Day this year.

Paul writes on the GoFundMe page he has set up:

“Since my wife and I welcomed our daughter into our lives, Erika’s story really resonated with me and I wanted to help.

“My plan is to run a full marathon on my own in my home village of Multyfarnham on Saturday, June 6, to raise as much as we can to get Erika to America for her life-saving treatment.

“Friends in New Zealand (Patrick Romeril) and Sweden (David Hoey) will also run solo marathons on the same day.”

Paul then included information about Erika:

Erika was born prematurely at 31 weeks and had hydrocephalus and needed a shunt inserted in her brain.

Erika had many hospital stays over the first three years of her life, which included being treated for swine flu and pneumonia.

Thankfully, she got through those awful diseases.

In December 2018, the shunt in Erika’s brain blocked and she underwent brain surgery.

Erika was diagnosed with Rhabdomyosarcoma cancer in her pelvis.

Her kidneys began to fail and she ended up in ICU for four weeks and underwent dialysis.

Erika will fight anything thrown her way!

She then went to Temple Street and had to go through more surgery on her brain, as her shunt blocked again due to the size of the tumour in her pelvis.

Erika had nine cycles of VAC chemotherapy, reconstruction surgery and had 23 sessions of proton therapy in Essen, Germany.

In December, Erika had a scan to check the tumour after her radiation in Germany and it was totally clear.

Erika had just finished six months of chemotherapy on Tuesday April 28, and had a scan to check the tumour, as her treatment was over.

Devastatingly, the scan showed that Erika had relapsed, and the tumour had grown in the same spot to 9cm in size.

At the moment, Erika is undergoing chemotherapy in Crumlin hospital.

After this, she is hoping to go to Amsterdam for further treatment to kill the 9cm tumour in her pelvis.

The main aim is to Get Erika to America, if the tumour shrinks enough to have it fully removed.

This can cost some €650,000 – €450,000 for the surgery alone, treatment post-surgery, aftercare, travel and accommodation expenses.

If Erika passes before this can happen and Erika needs palliative care, the funds will be used for that care and the remaining funds will be donated to The Gavin Glynn Foundation and Aoibheann’s Pink Tie Charity, according to the wishes of her family.

Please donate if you can and let’s help Erika get her treatment.