BY DECLAN VARLEY
In a few weeks time, Renmore native and now Salthill resident Eoin White will go for a run...and run...and run...and run. In the space of one day on June 20, he will complete the equivalent of FOUR marathons, driven by his love of pounding the roads, but also by a mind full of heartfelt memories that his father John built up for them over a lifetime.
45-year-old Eoin, who is creating his own memories with his three beautiful children and his amazing fiancée, recently purchased a family home in Salthill which he is currently renovating.
On the longest day of the year, the Summer solstice, Eoin will be running the entire breadth of county Galway, from the River Shannon to the Atlantic Ocean – 172K in 1 day – for The Alzheimer Society of Ireland and in honour of his father, who is living with dementia.
Starting at sunrise on Banagher Bridge, Eoin will make his way westward through; Eyrecourt, Kiltormer, Mullagh, Kilreekill, Loughrea, Craughwell, Coldwood, Oranmore, Roscam, Renmore, Eyre Square, Newcastle, Bushypark, Moycullen, Rosscahill, Oughterard, Maam Cross, Recess, Clifden, Claddghduff, and finally finishing at Anchor Beach at sunrise on Friday June 21.
In total, Eoin will cover a distance of just over four marathons in length in 24 hours, and it is an challenge he has been training for over the past ten months.
Why the long run?
“In 2017, Dad was diagnosed with dementia. We felt completely lost at sea and didn’t know where to start. This was not a condition our family knew anything about,” he told me this week.
“We didn’t know anyone who had it or any other family that had been affected by it, or so we thought. One thing I’ve learnt since 2017 is that this condition affects so many people. 64,000 people are living with dementia in Ireland, 3,553 of whom live in County Galway, and a whopping 180,000 people are caring for a loved one living with the condition.
“Talking and sharing my experiences with dementia have shown me that so many people in my circle have also been affected by it. But this only becomes known when we open up and share our story. That’s why I want to create awareness and start the conversation about dementia and Alzheimer’s,” he explained.
Eoin’s father John is now in the late stages of the disease.
“He doesn’t know who I am, he can no longer walk and has almost completely lost the ability to talk. I find at this point it is even difficult to tell him I love him, because to him we don’t have that relationship, and it adds to his confusion.
“It has left so much unsaid, which is painful. Dad was an amazing man – a broadcast engineer, he initially found work with the BBC in England, RTE in Ireland and later with the UN in Indonesia and Iraq setting up radio networks.
“He doesn’t deserve this. His grand kids don’t deserve this – I wish they could experience him the way we did when we were kids. At bedtime, when we were kids, we would beg Dad to ‘tell us a story from when you were a boy’, and he would always oblige. He would tell us of his fantastic adventures as a boarder in St Flannan’s College, Ennis,” said Eoin.
“The stories were legendary and have never been forgotten. This is something that I have passed on to my children at bedtime and they love it just as much. But lately I have started to share with them some of the stories of when Grandad was a boy, so they can get to know the man we knew, and they love those old stories just as much as we did.
Heartbreaking
“The most heartbreaking thing about dementia isn’t that they forget who you are, it is that you can no longer share these beloved memories together. They are there, somewhere, but they just can’t be communicated. Dad is still with us, but everything that made our relationship special is gone. We love him, we adore him, but he doesn’t know why. This run is a sort of pilgrimage for me. Dad can no longer walk but he has raised a son that can run 172K in a day. And I couldn’t do this if it wasn’t for him.
On the Sunday before the big run, Eoin will be completing one last little run to stretch the legs.
“I want to use it as an opportunity to meet with other people who have been affected by or have experiences with dementia and Alzheimer’s. So, on Sunday, June 16 I have organized a Father’s Day 5K run along the Promenade, Salthill. Meeting at 9:45am outside Blackrock Cottage, the run will set-off at 10:00am, running along the Prom to Mutton Island Causeway and back.
“We will be running at an easy ‘conversational’ pace so all abilities welcome. Maybe we can grab coffees afterwards and keep the conversation going,” he says.
And with that, it was back to the training. Running like that gives you plenty of time to think.
And although he might not know it, the memories created by John and other dementia sufferers will live on in the conversations that will be inspired by this event.
To donate to Eoins’s fundraiser please visit www.4Marathons ForMemory.com You can also follow Eoin’s journey so far and watch the day itself unfold on his Instagram account: @4Marathons ForMemory.
If you have been affected by dementia and Alzheimer’s, The Alzheimer Society of Ireland National Helpline is open six days a week, Monday to Friday, 10am-5pm and Saturday, 10am-4pm, on 1800 341 341. Email at [email protected] or via Live Chat at www.alzheimer.ie
