An Armagh priest who lost his sister to Covid-19 has invited people to help celebrate her life by taking part in a fundraising walk.
Fr Peter McAnenly, the administrator at St Patrick’s Cathedral Parish in Armagh, has organised the 5k walk in conjunction with his family.
His sister Nuala McLaughlin, a mother-of-two, passed away aged 43 on December 22 last year.
She had been diagnosed with coronavirus just a month earlier.
Speaking to the BBC last year, Fr McAnenly said that before Nuala was ventilated, her two children, Orla and Eoin, were allowed to see her briefly
It was Orla’s 18th birthday – “and the greatest birthday gift she could have got,” Fr McAnenly said. “Those few minutes will stay with me for the rest of my days.”
He described his younger sister as “caring and warm-hearted” and said Irish dancing was her great passion.
A native of Glencull, Ballygawley, Nuala was a family and child care social worker with the Western Trust.
During the last few weeks of her life, she was cared for by staff in the intensive care unit of the South West Area Hospital, Enniskillen.
Proceeds of the 5k walk , which is being held on Sunday, July 4, will go to the intensive care unit and to child support services in the western trust, a cause that was “close to Nuala’s heart”.
Fr McAnenly said: “The walk will take place in the lovely countryside close to her family home in Glencull, Ballygawley and which overlooks the Clogher Valley.
“It will begin and end on Errigal Road and signs to the start point will be in place on the day on the main Ballygawley to Omagh Road.”
People can now register for the walk which will take place from 5am- 9pm.
In light of Covid guidelines, it is suggested that people stay with their partner or within their family unit when completing the route and that they start and finish it together.
Anyone who is unable to book a time slot on the day is asked to consider doing the walk close to their own home.
To register for the walk and to donate, visit klubfunder.com/Clubs/Search and search ‘Walk for Nuala’.
