The father of a six-year-old Tullylish boy with cerebral palsy is to lead a 300 mile charity cycle in aid of the Northern Ireland Children’s Hospice.
JJ Doran has life-limiting disabilities due to brain injuries sustained at birth, having spent many weeks in neonatal care after he was born.
He attends Donard School in Banbridge twice a week and requires 24-hour medical care, having had many ups and downs in his short life.
The ‘Giro D’JJ’ fundraiser has been launched in aid of the NI Children’s Hospice, who have been by the side of the Doran family through it all, with JJ receiving Hospice at Home respite care every week.
Spearheaded by JJ’s dad Vincent Doran, 30 cyclists will be travelling just over 300 miles around the nine county GAA grounds of Ulster.
They are aiming to complete the trek in three days, from September 20 to September 22, and Vincent will score a point at each of the grounds they stop at.
No strangers to charity fundraising, the group have already raised £76,000 for NI Children’s Hospice with their 2021 walk from Croke Park to Tullylish, when they covered the 100 mile trip from the home of Gaelic Games to Tullylish GAA, Vincent and JJ’s club.
Speaking to Armagh I, Vicent recounted JJ’s birth and the support the Hospice provided to the family at that early stage.
“When JJ was born, we didn’t know where we were at, but the Hospice stepped in straight away with support straight from day one. They helped us through the whole process – learning everything we needed to do, learning about medicines and the medical condition.
“They also offer in-house respite to JJ four times a year for two to three nights at a time, which gives us a break and allows us to spend a bit more time with our wee girl Evie, who is eight.
“They also provide in-house respite where they come to our house two or three times a week in conjunction with our local community nursing team.
“They’re an invaluable help to us and to so many families in Northern Ireland.”
Vincent described the Hospice as a “place of great hope” that supported his family in their time of need.
He said: “The care that they provide for everybody they look after is absolutely brilliant. But with recent cuts and so forth, it’s not as well-funded as it should be.”
Following the success of the Croker to Tullylish event, Vincent and a group of friends thought they could do something else to raise money.
Despite having to cover 100 miles a day across three days, Vincent’s fear is having to score a point at each ground.
“Anybody that has ever seen me playing football would understand that this is quite a challenge for me!” he said.
The 30 cyclists taking part have a range of abilities, with Vincent stating he’s been training since March, when he bought his first bike in 20 years!
“It’s not an easy challenge to do, even for the experienced cyclists. We have lots of mountains to go over and so on.
“It’s going to be quite an adventure!”
The team hope to surpass the £76,000 raised last time around, with an overall target of £100,000.
So far, they have raised £30,000 and hope to press on with the fundraising.
In the coming days, they also hope to raffle off signed Armagh jerseys from the winning teams in 2002 and 2024.
Vincent added: “We’re trying to raise awareness of the Hospice and what the Hospice does and to show anyone that has a child born with a life-limiting condition that there is hope.
“When JJ was born, I thought there was no life out there for him, but you have to move on and see there’s a life out there.”
You can follow Giro D’JJ on Facebook to keep up to date with the fundraiser. You can also donate by visiting the link here.
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