Twin brothers do ‘Sea2Summit’ for children’s hospital

Twin brothers Paul and John McDonnell are taking part in the Westport Sea2Summit adventure race on Saturday November 9, and raising funds for Temple Street Children’s University Hospital.

John explains their motivation: “In January 2019 my nephew Harry and his mother Laura (Paul’s son and wife) fell down stairs and Harry needed life-saving surgery at Temple Street – which, thankfully, was successful.

“Ten months on, he is thriving and thank to the care of the nurses, physios, surgeons and all at Temple Street, there is a heart-warming story.”

Paul and John and the family would also like to acknowledge the staff in the Emergency Department at Mullingar hospital.

He said: “They were amazing in their first response, in identifying the severity of Harry’s injuries and organising a speedy transfer to Temple Street.”

Laura, a native of Kells, banged her head and fractured her wrist in the accident, but luckily has no lasting injuries.

The brothers are originally from Ballynacargy and Paul now lives in Mullingar and John in Horseleap. They have plenty of experience in sport and keeping fit, so the challenge of the Sea2Summit next week should be no bother to them! Paul played football for Ballynacargy and was part of the 1995 junior, 1996 intermediate and 1999 junior championship teams – currently he trains the Tyrrellspass U6 footballers. Both John and Paul played youth rugby for Mullingar RFC, and John played football for Ballynacargy and St Joseph’s GAA.

John currently trains the U12 Midland Warriors rugby team in Moate and has taken part in triathlons in Athlone. They started training for the Sea2Summit in the early summer by running and cycling twice a week, increasing that to four times a week as the event date gets closer. John also climbed Croagh Patrick twice during the summer to familiarise himself with the terrain. It’s clear that there is family effort and support for their campaign, and the brothers’ sister-in-law Nicola McDonnell (née Murtagh) from Ballynacargy raised more than €1,500 for Temple Street by taking part in the Chicago marathon earlier this month.

As it stands, the families have raised a total of more than €5,500 and they haven’t finished yet. If you would like to help them, they have a GoFundMe page where you can contribute. For more, search on Facebook for the words ‘Paul And John McDonnell Ballynacargy’, which should take you to their fundraising page, via the Ballynacargy GAA page.