Great-granny's 5k a day for charity

Moyra (82), who lives in Keady and is isolating at the moment with her daughter Bernie McKevitt and family in Glenavy, aims to raise a fantastic £1,000 for the local charity.

Cancer Focus NI has had to suspend many of its support services for local cancer patients and their families and has furloughed most staff due to the coronavirus.

The charity has also had to postpone its fundraising events, so donations are even more critical at this difficult time.

Bernie said: “Mammy lost daddy, Joe, over four years ago to lung cancer. My sister Moyra (Barnes) was diagnosed with ovarian cancer at the end of October and recently had her last session of chemo and is thankfully now on her way to recovery. Mammy wanted to raise some funds to help others going through cancer and to help them beat it.

“I was telling mammy how charities are struggling with marathons and other events being cancelled and she decided she would like to do this for Cancer Focus NI.”

Moyra, who has ten children, 28 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren, also aimed to improve her own fitness – she wanted to increase her walking distance from 2 miles to 3.2miles (5K).

Bernie added: “Mammy is quite fit for her age, though 5k a day is a challenge for her. She always finds the last mile tough, especially on the warm days, but she’s doing really well. So far her personal best is a fantastic 5km in less than 53 minutes.”

Rosie Forsythe, Cancer Focus NI, said: “Cancer Focus NI supports thousands of local cancer patients and their families each year at one of the toughest times of their lives but due to COVID-19, we have, unfortunately, had to greatly reduce our care services for the time being.

“We rely hugely on the public to provide over 90% of our income. Regrettably, we have also had to cancel or postpone our fundraising events and our income has dramatically reduce, so we are truly grateful to Moyra for taking up this amazing challenge. We are very impressed by her efforts and we think she’s just wonderful.

“Moyra is doing her bit to save Cancer Focus NI’s services – we are appealing to everyone to help us too and donate today?’” If you would like to make a donation to Moyra’s walk please go to Bernadette McKevitt’s justgiving page. You can also support the Cancer Focus NI by making a donate today on cancerfocusni.org/appeal or texting FOCUS to 70660 to donate £5.