Waterford man to undertake Two Oceans Marathon for charity
Daniel Dransfield, who lives in the Tourin area of the Waterford, is going to attempt to complete the Two Oceans Marathon along with his friend, Dermot Walsh.
A man from Waterford is going to attempt a mammoth fundraising challenge to raise money for St Vincent's Hospital in Dublin.
Daniel Dransfield, who lives in the Tourin area of the county, is going to attempt to complete the Two Oceans Marathon along with his friend, Dermot Walsh.
The Two Oceans Marathon is comprised of a 56 kilometres ultramarathon run alongside a 21 kilometres half-marathon. It's held annually in Cape Town, South Africa, and this year will take place on the Saturday and Sunday, after Easter weekend.
The ultra-marathon will take place on the Sunday while the half-marathon will take place the following day. Daniel is taking on the challenge to raise funds for the Centre of Colorectal Disease (CCD) at St Vincent’s Hospital in Dublin.
His aim is to raise awareness about colitis, Crohn’s Disease and colorectal conditions and in doing so raise some money to support vital research that will ultimately improve lives.
Daniel battled this disease for almost two years and has decided to do something to give back and show support to the incredible team in St. Vincent's Hospital.
He is undertaking the challenge alongside his good friend Dermot, and has set up a GoFundMe link to allow people to contribute to the fundraiser. To support the endeavour go online to https://gofund.me/4159a60c or look for the 'Support Dermot & Dan's ultra for St. Vincent's OCD' banner on the GoFundMe page.
On the page Daniel stated: "Running marathons has probably never been easy, but it’s become even more challenging after battling a few health conditions that left a lasting impact on my body."
"This cause is deeply personal to me," said Daniel, on his page.
"There are two groups of people who’ve made it possible for me to reach this point: my amazing family and the incredible team led by Mr. Sean Martin, at St. Vincent’s Hospital," he added.
"After enduring two awful years, being referred to Sean and his team was a turning point in my life. Their exceptional care gave me hope when I was really struggling."
Daniel said he took his health and fitness for granted, however, he is now more conscious of how lucky people are to be able to "get out there and put one foot in front of the other".
"By training for and completing this run, I aim to raise awareness about colitis, Crohn’s disease and other colorectal conditions while supporting vital research that improves lives," he said.
"This is also my way of expressing some thanks to Sean, Aaron, and the entire extraordinary team at St. Vincent’s for giving me my life back," he added.
The Centre for Colorectal Disease is at the forefront of patient care and ground breaking research and its missions is to advance understanding of colorectal cancer and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) while enhancing clinical care for patients across Ireland.
