Fundraising cycle to honour memory of Monksland’s Laura
A 12-year-old Athlone girl will be remembered in a very special way next week when a group of over 70 cyclists embarks on a poignant challenge to raise funds for the Children's Health Foundation at Temple Street Hospital.
The cycle is being organised by staff from IN2 Engineering, whose Projects Director and Monksland resident, Ian Carroll, and his wife, Lorraine, lost their precious youngest daughter, Laura, on March 28, 2021 two days after she had suffered a brain bleed in the early hours of the morning at the family home in Corrán Riada. Monksland.
As the Carroll family prepares to mark the fourth anniversary of the devastating and sudden passing of an adored daughter this Friday, Ian admits that it “doesn't get any easier” and the entire family misses her “in a million ways, big and small” every single day.
In the final days of her short life, little Laura Carroll was cared for in Temple Street Children's Hospital, and the exceptional care she received was the catalyst for a major charity cycle in 2022 which raised almost €33,000 for the Children's Health Foundation at Temple Street.
That cycle saw staff from the Athlone, Dublin, Belfast, London and Berlin offices of IN2 set off along three set routes which culminated in Athlone, with the longest stretch of 130km taking the cyclists all the way from Dublin to Athlone.
After a three-year break, IN2 Engineering has once again decided to host a fundraising cycle to honour the memory of Laura Carroll and raise funds for Children's Health Foundation Temple Street on Friday of next week, April 4, which will once again culminate at Inis Carrig in Athlone, where the local offices of IN2 are based.
“The first cycle was such a well-received event in terms of our own staff and the amount of money raised that it was felt it couldn't be done every year, so when we were approached and asked if it could go ahead this year once again in Laura's memory we were delighted.”
While he admits that his family would “give anything to have Laura back” Ian Carroll says the fundraising cycle “helps to keep her memory alive.”
As someone who was “always a giver” during her short life, her grieving Dad says it is “a source of comfort” to the family to know that the former Cloonakilla National School pupil is “still giving back” after her tragic passing.
IN2 has said that whatever funds are raised will help improve the quality of care for each child within Temple Street Children's Hospital.
“From a clear diagnosis for a serious illness, and life-saving surgery, from an intensive-care stay or support for parents and family members, the funds we raise will play a key role to support the vital work in Temple Street's Hospital including the purchase of new equipment, investment in paediatric research and the funding of patient and family support,” the organisers say.
Four years after Laura Carroll's passing the family is still in contact with Temple Street Children's Hospital, and Ian says that while everyone is aware of the day to day work that nurses and doctors do, it is the huge amount of “unseen work” that means the most to families who are faced with the devastating loss of a child.
“Their ongoing support has helped us hugely as a family, and if other families could experience that help in their hour of need as a result of some of the monies raised in memory of Laura through next week's fundraising cycle that would give us great comfort.”
Ian and Lorraine Carroll, along with Laura's sibling, 17-year old Aoife, who is currently studying for her Leaving Certificate, are planning to cycle to Mullingar on Friday next, April 4, to link up with IN2 staff coming from Dublin, and then complete the 90km round trip back to Athlone.
Donations to the fundraising cycle in memory of Laura Carroll can be made on the JustGiving platform: https://www.justgiving.com/page/in2-cycles-ireland
To date almost half of the €20,000 fundraising target has been reached.