Nicola O’Sullivan took on the Dublin Marathon in October 2022 in memory of her beloved Dad Liam, who was a fantastic supporter of and friend to the Oesophageal Cancer Fund.

“My Dad was diagnosed with Oesophageal Cancer back in 2015. Being the awesome person he was, he loved spending time fundraising for OCF and we regularly did the Lollipop Day together in Terenure. He even made a TV appearance for OCF on Ireland AM talking about his diagnosis experience.”

Nicola completed the Women’s Mini Marathon a number of times in support of the Oesophageal Cancer Fund previously but had felt that 10km was where her distance would peak.

“Shortly before Dad passed he reminded me that he would have loved to have done a marathon when he was able to. The Dublin Marathon Lottery system opened in November 2019 and I entered it so that I could tell Dad I at least tried to do the marathon.”

Sadly, her Dad Liam passed away in December 2019 and covid hit shortly afterwards, so thoughts of the marathon disappeared from Nicola’s mind. 

Earlier this year, however, Nicola was reminded of her successful Dublin Marathon entry and decided she had to take the opportunity when she had it.

“Since February 2022 I have been training with the help of Andrew from The Fitness Goose Run Club and I am going to complete my first ever marathon in aid of OCF on October 30th in memory of my Dad, Liam O’Sullivan. I’m really looking forward to getting the 42km done for OCF, my Dad, my family and for myself!”

Nicola’s aim was to raise €100 for each mile she completes in her first marathon but incredibly completed the marathon having raised over €5,400 – 206% of her target!

Thank you so much to Nicola for sharing with us and for all of your incredible hard work and dedication. It means so much to us.