Charity walk for local school pupils

Children from St Colman’s Primary School will show their heart when they take part in a sponsored walk to raise funds for a defibrillator next week.
Launching the 'defibs4kids' sponsored walk at St Colmans Primary Lambeg are members of the pupil council along with Mr Art Kernan. INUS2313-STCOLMANSWLKLaunching the 'defibs4kids' sponsored walk at St Colmans Primary Lambeg are members of the pupil council along with Mr Art Kernan. INUS2313-STCOLMANSWLK
Launching the 'defibs4kids' sponsored walk at St Colmans Primary Lambeg are members of the pupil council along with Mr Art Kernan. INUS2313-STCOLMANSWLK

The children, whose student council has developed a ‘defibs4kids’ campaign, will walk along the Lagan Towpath to the Frank Pantridge statue at Lisburn Civic Centre on Wednesday to raise funds for a defibrillator for the school.

The walk, from St Colman’s Primary, Lambeg, has been supported by parent Martina McConville, whose son Eoghan has Cardiomyopathy, which is known to many as ‘Sudden Death Syndrome’.

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Eoghan, a Primary five pupil at the school, underwent open heart surgery the summer prior to his enrolment in St Colman’s, when he was four years old.

Eoghan’s mum Martina said: “Thankfully Eoghan is a happy and mostly healthy little boy. The school have been tremendous in their care of my son and when I was asked to get involved in this initiative I jumped at the chance.

“My son’s condition is the highest killer in the under 30s and the frightening thing is that statistically, one in three people have it and don’t know about it until it is too late.”

Martina continued: “We as a family and a school are blessed with the knowledge about Eoghan. However, many are not as fortunate. The ‘umbrella’ of heart disease is a large one with Cardiomyopathy only one of the many conditions. As a little school we want to make a large impact by obtaining this life saving piece of equipment, undergo the necessary training and create much needed knowledge on this subject.”

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As part of their fundraising efforts, pupils will walk from the school premises in Lambeg to the Island Civic Centre in Lisburn and back to school. Approximately 200 children and 30 adults will take part in the walk, which will stop at the statue of Professor Frank Pantridge.

Martina added: “This is quite poignant as the inventor of the defibrillator, Prof Frank Pantridge was a Lisburn man.”

Pupils from Ballymacrickett Primary and Friends’ School will join the pupils from St Colman’s, who intend to roll the campaign out to all schools and all children. Local politicians and sports personalities are also expected to attend.

The school community has developed a number of novel fundraising ideas to raise money, with the student council working with a number of tradesmen to construct a giant Heart which will act as a collection box, to be placed on school grounds.

The children will also be selling wrist bands with their slogan defibs4kids, whilst various other events such as a red day will be ongoing.

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