Sisters take on Paris marathon in memory of beloved mother

Three sisters from Navan ran their first ever marathon in Paris at the weekend in memory of their mother who passed away from cancer in June 2020.

Sisters Aisling, Niamh, and Emma Cassidy wanted to do something to fundraise for three charities that are very close to their hearts that helped their family greatly at the most difficult time in their lives.

They decided to take on the challenge of running a marathon in memory of their mother Audrey while also raising funds for the Irish Cancer Society, Meath Palliative Care, and the Gary Kelly Centre.

Aisling (26) and twins Emma and Niamh (23) were joined by their father Michael for the last 10km of the marathon from the Eiffel Tower to the finish line.

Their friend Méabh Cunningham from Limerick also ran the marathon and is fundraising with them while remembering her grandfather who also passed away from cancer after a 10-year battle.

"Our mum was diagnosed with a brain tumour in October 2017 and sadly passed away two and a half years later in June 2020 after a very brave fight with cancer. It’s hard to describe what it’s like to lose a loved one but it’s impossible to describe losing your best friend," said Emma.

"Our mum passed away during the height of Covid. During a time when family and friends are so important, they weren’t able to be with us due to restrictions. As a family we are forever grateful to Meath Palliative Care for providing a huge amount of support in helping us to look after our mum in the comfort of our own home.

"The Irish Cancer Society continues to do great work helping families dealing with cancer throughout Ireland every day. We chose to support this charity as a means of thanking them for the help they gave to us, particularly night nurse Hilary who enabled us to be with our mum the morning she lost her battle.

"The Gary Kelly centre provides adult counselling services to patients, friends and family of those affected by cancer and were a great support to our family while mum was sick and also after she passed."

Emma explained that during covid running became an outlet for them when they couldn't play football or meet their friends.

She said they always thought about doing a marathon and wanted to give back to the charities who did so much for them.

"We really wanted to give back to them, we gained so much from them at a time when we really needed help.

"A marathon is a big fundraiser. I think people appreciate how tough it is. A few years ago our football club raised money for The Irish Cancer Society doing the mini marathon and we thought we would step it up a bit and take it to the next level and to try to challenge ourselves as well.

Dad Michael spoke of his pride in his three daughters.

"I am very proud that they are doing this in Audrey's memory, and it is lovely to see the three of them being involved. I am so proud of what they have achieved in their fundraising exceeding €10,000 for three charities that we so good to us at our time of need."

The three Cassidy sisters have been overwhelmed by the response to the fundraiser and the generosity people have shown.

"I put the target at €1,000, probably thinking if we got to €3,000 it would be fantastic- to have €1,000 for each charity but by the time it had been up 24 hours, we were nearly at €5,000. It is over €10,000 now, we have been blown away."

To make a donation to the Cassidy sisters marathon fundraiser click here