Tallaght Echo
Thursday 5th July 2012
Consultant cardiologist Deirdre Ward to raise funds for CRYP
By Mary Dennehy
[email protected]
A consultant cardiologist is embarking on six runs in six months to raise much needed funds for Tallaght Hospital’s Centre for Cardiac Risk in Younger Persons (CRYP) – where she is a consultant cardiologist and Co-Director
Dr Deirdre Ward began her self-set challenge in April of this year and will complete her series of runs this September with the annual Half-Marathon in the Phoenix Park.
To date Dr Ward has taken part in the 10km in the Phoenix Park, the Flora Women’s Mini Marathon and the Five-Mile Challenge in the Phoenix Park.
This month she’ll take on the 10km in Swords before taking on another 10km run in the Phoenix Park before the Half-Marathon in September.
Dr Ward, who took up running after a five-year gap, has been working at the CRYP Centre since it opened in 2007.
Funded by Irish charity CRY (Cardiac Risk in the Young), the centre provides free, comprehensive cardiac evaluations for anyone who has lost a family member to Sudden Cardiac Death (SCD) Syndrome or those who have worrying symptoms.
CRY raises money to keep the centre going without any direct government funding and also provides counselling to patients and family members who have lost someone to SCD.
Dr Ward said: “The centre relies on funding raised by CRY to sustain the free cardiac evaluation service.
“With the recent raised public awareness of Sudden Cardiac Death, due to a number of incidents involving high profile sports people such as Fabrice Muamba, we are in higher demand than ever.
“The centre receives no direct government funding and so I thought I would help out with this by raising money for CRY.”
She added: “The training (for my challenge) can be tough, particularly during the recent wintry spell, but it’s going very well and my times continue to improve.
“I surprised even myself by finishing in the top 250 in the women’s mini marathon so that’s great incentive to keep up the hard work for a cause that I very strongly believe in”.
Dr Ward can be sponsored on the CRY website, www.cry.ie – with all funds raised going directly to CRY.
Anyone interested in running for CRY or undertaking any fundraising can contact Lucia Ebbs on 01 4525482.