Going the extra mile or 500km for a friend

(Above) Nicole 'Coley' Kelly, far left, with her friends Ciara Murphy, Jane Leahy, Claire McWey and Emily Kiernan.

A group of young Mullingar women has pledged to walk/run/cycle and swim 500km in the coming weeks to raise money for their friend who is currently in Germany receiving treatment for a rare bacterial disease.

For the past six years, Nicole Kelly (23) has been battling Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, a bacterial infection similar to Lyme disease and with many of the same symptoms.

The condition is extremely rare in Ireland and Coley, as she is known to her friends and family, was only diagnosed less than a year ago. She recently travelled to Germany for treatment which it is hoped will improve her quality of life and reduce the amount of pain she is in.

In a bid to show their support, Coley's close-knit circle of friends, Jane Leahy, Ciara Murphy, Claire McWey, and Emily Kiernan, decided that they would raise funds to help offset some of the high costs associated with her treatment and four-week stay in Germany.

Jane told the Westmeath Examiner that in many ways her friend's life has had to be put on hold since she contracted the infection.

“It kind of started when we were all finishing school and at the time we were all looking to go away to college and looking to the future, while Coley was suffering the whole time. She didn't get to look forward to things the way we all did. It has been hard.”

The pandemic has also meant that the group of school friends has only been able to meet up once for a socially distanced outdoor get-together in the past 15 months. Jane says that the fundraiser is their way of lending practical support.

“We are all feeling a bit helpless here not being able to do anything for her. It's been Zoom calls and catching up that way.

“It has been really hard the last couple of weeks with Coley being in Germany and us sitting here helpless.

“Myself and Ciara met up the weekend before last and we were saying that there was nothing we could do, then she suggested raising money. She came up with the [500] kilometre challenge. We pitched it to the others and straight away everyone said yes. We got started the next day and hopefully, we can get a few bob together for her.”

The girls' efforts have not been in vain. At the time of writing, they had raised over €1,300. After Nicole's struggles over the past six years, Jane says that she hopes that her friend's quality of life will improve when she has completed her treatment.

“It is so rare here that it was very hard for her to get a diagnosis and it is only now she is getting the correct treatment. From what Coley said the treatment [in Germany] is the only option for her. It is all there is. The hope is that they explore it a bit more, get down to the root of it and release the pain.”

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