TWO BEST FRIENDS will be cycling across the country later this month in memory of a three year old girl from Shannon Banks who died in April from a very rare form of cancer.
Madison Stanley was a bubbly, friendly, little girl with the ability to lift a room. At the age of two, she was diagnosed with glioblastoma, regular trips from Corbally to Crumlin ensued as she received treatment for a year and a half but sadly Maddie died on April 15th of this year aged just three years old.
Her regular journey will be recreated by Maddie’s father Shane and his best friend Sean Hynan. They will cycle for over ten hours in a 200km trek from Corbally to Crumlin on July 23rd. The duo have been friends since they worked in bars and nightclubs together along with Shane’s fiancé Rebecca Enright.
Cratloe’s Sean recounted that the past two years have been very difficult for Stephen, Rebecca, their family and friends. “It wasn’t easy, you were doing what you could to help out whatever way possible, there’s not a lot you could do, a very tough situation and to see them going through that.
It was Sean that had the brainwave to do the cycle in aid of Aoibheann’s Pink Tie. “They help people in the St John’s Ward in Crumlin, it can be very last minute needing people for treatment, they organise the hotels, they are organising fuel vouchers for families at the moment. I know the lads were very grateful for them, I pitched the idea, I thought it was a bit mad, he was 100% up for it,” he said. The charity is spending an approximate €12,000 per month with the current hotel and fuel prices.
A personal trainer at Go Gym in Coonagh, Sean praised their neighbours, ‘Bike for Life’ for their “sensational support, they sponsored bikes and training gear, Liam from there has been doing sessions with us, he’s coming on the day and the van is coming with a support vehicle, they’re doing that all free of charge”.
While preparing for the gruelling 200km spin, they are constantly reminded of Maddie. “Shane wasn’t on a bike since he was 15, I haven’t been far away behind him bar the spinning. Our frst big one was 50km and we’ve been getting the miles in the legs for the day itself since. The thing we’re telling ourselves is we’re doing it from their front door and it’s the same trip that Madison did each time she went to Crumlin”.
Within a half an hour of the fundraiser going live, they raised €2,000, to date it now has brought in more than €22,000. Of the support, Sean said, “it is absolutely mind-blowing the people who have jumped on board and come behind it. It has taken legs of its own at this stage”. Families with loved ones receiving treatment in Crumlin have expressed their gratitude to the duo for their efforts.
This Sunday, they will be running a charity fundraising day at Squire McGuire’s Bar on Lower Cecil St in Limerick with live music, DJs and a raffle with spot prizes. “It is really tough times for people with the cost of living, we’ve ten times the amount of money we thought we would raise, it is really nice to see, this is a good memory of Maddy that is always going to be there,” Sean concluded.
DONATE: Corbally to Crumlin for Maddie
