Communities across Limerick rally to aid Wexford native diagnosed with a life-altering condition

COMMUNITIES across Limerick are being urged to come out in support of a week-long wheelchair push to raise funds for a Wexford native who has been diagnosed with a life-altering disease.

The 350km fundraiser aims to raise €100,000 and will stop off in Adare on Thursday, April 25.

The novel Push For Paul fundraiser is in aid of Paul Murphy who is living with mitochondrial myopathy, a condition which is very similar to motor neurone disease.

Paul, who now lives with his family near Killarney, Co Kerry is wheelchair bound and lives with impaired motor skills.

In 2023, a group of Paul's friends, started on a fundraising journey to make Paul's family home more accessible but also to raise awareness around the accessibility issues that wheelchair users encounter on a daily basis.

It is intended that the push will also raise awareness of the work of the Irish Wheelchair Association.

The Push for Paul event will see friends push a wheelchair all the way from Drogheda in County Louth to Killarney in County Kerry, a 350km trek.

The push, featuring a teddy in a wheelchair, starts on Sunday, April 21, and finishes in Killarney Racecourse the following Saturday, April 27.

The push will involve relays from Drogheda to Trim, Trim to Tullamore, Tullamore to Nenagh, Nenagh to Adare, Adare to Castleisland and finally from Castleisland to Killarney.

The Murphy family have extended thanks to all those involved in organising the campaign and in providing financial and other support.

You can donate to the “Push for Paul” fundraiser on the idonate page at  www.idonate.ie/fundraiser/apushforpaul  or if you would like to get involved from a corporate perspective, sponsor a virtual spoke, one of the stages or get involved as an overall sponsor, please don’t hesitate to contact Matthew Farrelly on 087 7658970. All social media platforms are covering the fundraiser as well under the #pushforpaul slogan