Mayo teen running marathon to support friend raises over €5,000 for cancer charity
(From left to right:) Friends Richard Loftus, Darragh Hopkins and Luke Feeney
A big-hearted Mayo student, who is running the Dublin Marathon this year for one of his best friends who is battling cancer, has raised over €5,000 for the Irish Cancer Society.
Darragh Hopkins and his friend Richard Loftus, both from the Foxford Road area of Ballina, have been pals since they first started playing rugby together in the town.
Darragh, a first year year medical student at the University of Galway, has thanked people on his fundraising page for supporting him as he prepares for the charity run.
The fundraising page has so far raised over €5,500 out of a €10,000 target.
"Richard and I have been friends for many years, having first started playing rugby together in Ballina Rugby Club in under-6s," he said. "We played together for over 12 years with Ballina Rugby Club, we played rugby for St Muredach's and GAA with Ballina Stephenites."
Darragh, aged 19, said they have grown up alongside each other both in school and in sport and he stated was eager to do something to support Richard, aged 18.
"Earlier this year, Richard was diagnosed with sarcoma cancer. This is a type of rare cancer that develop in the bones and soft tissues of the body," he said. "I am running the Dublin City Marathon in October of this year and while this is a gruelling task for me personally, however, it is nothing compared to what Richard and the nearly 42,000 people diagnosed with cancer every year in Ireland battle through."
Darragh, who has previously ran a few 10km races but recently started preparing for his first marathon, said he is delighted there is "good momentum" behind the fundraiser.
"It's a lot of money, I don't know what came over me the day I thought it would be a good idea to run a marathon.
"It was a combination of things, it's such a good cause and I wanted to do a marathon and I just this year I thought life's too short and if you want to go and do things you should just go and do them.
"I've started training and I'm building it up day by day and I'm lucky to have a lot of good people around me helping me out with it," he added.
Asked about Richard's feelings on him undertaking the challenge, Darragh said he appreciates his efforts.
"I think he's laughing at me more than anything else thinking I'd run a marathon", he added.
Darragh concluded that he genuinely really appreciates the support and it "truly makes a difference to cancer patients supported by the Irish Cancer Society".
If you would like to donate and support this worthy cause click this link: https://eventmaster.ie/fundraising/pages/darraghopkins
