James runs 60km to raise funds for Marie Curie in memory of father

James O’Neill, who now lives in Scotland and is an accountant at Strathclyde University, took on the challenge on what would have been his father’s 60th birthday and what would was also his parent’s 40th wedding anniversary.

Sean O’Neill passed away in May this year, after living with cancer for seven years.

Local district nurses and Marie Curie nurses cared for him in the last six weeks of his life, allowing him to be cared for at home surrounded by his family, wife Marelle and sons Mark, Andrew who was able to travel from Australia, and oldest son James.

“Dad was such a happy go lucky guy, always having a laugh and a joke and was really into hill-walking,” James said. “The cancer kept moving around his body and it was hard seeing the disease rob him of his mobility.

“Those last few weeks were all about keeping him as comfortable as possible and free of pain. My mum was worried she might catch coronavirus and not be able to care for him or pass it on to him.

“We were all being as careful as possible and it was strange how normal conventions went out the window, like not being able to give my brothers and mum a hug.

“I feel so lucky that we were all able to be with him during lockdown as I know many families weren’t able to be with loved ones.”

James said the Marie Curie Nurses who helped care for his father were ‘brilliant’.

“We had some brilliant Marie Curie Nurses come out to care for dad, they’d even come out at 3am and you knew they were going on to another family after. They were very professional and would have a laugh with dad, which he loved.”

James, who has raised over £4,000 so far, finished the challenge at his dad’s paving stone at Celtic Park and was met by his wife Karen and six-year-old son Rory.

“You don’t know until you’re in the situation what a difference Marie Curie makes. I had never realised how reliant on funding they are and I wanted to challenge myself in tribute to dad, but also to thank Marie Curie for everything they did for my family.

“Knowing that my friends and family were at the finish line spurred me on. The last few kilometres were tough but I had prepared as best I could mentally for that,” James said. “The pain I was in paled into insignificance compared to what my dad went through, so I just kept thinking about that.”

To donate to James’s fundraising visit: www.justgiving.com/fundraising/james-o-neill21