KINAWLEY PARENTS Fiona and Thomas Drumm completed their ‘Mito Miles’ challenge recently in a joint effort with the ‘Lily Foundation’ to raise awareness and essential funds for Mitochondrial Disease.
The Lily Foundation set a challenge back in May for families to get
fit for a good cause by participating in the ‘My Mito Miles’ task.
This was a challenge where you could run, walk cycle, or do whatever you can to accumulate miles. Their aim was to reach a total of 24,901 miles, a circumnavigation of the world, by September 19 which was the end of Global Mitochondrial Disease Awareness Week.
Speaking to the Herald, Fiona said, “My husband Thomas and I got
involved at the beginning of June as two of our four children
Lochlainn and Eilis have a rare Mito disease.
“It’s a disease that can affect people in different ways and with
Lochlainn and Eilis it’s mainly affected their muscles and vision.
“We decided to walk and cycle the distance equivalent from Malin Head to Mizen and back (854 miles), with some extra miles for hardship we rounded it up to 1,000 miles each.
We set an original target of raising a pound per mile but have been
amazed by the generosity of people and are overwhelmed.”
While the pair finished their challenge back in September having
raised a total of £8,300.
The Drumm family has since been blown away by the generosity and support of people who donated a further £220 which brought the final total to £8520.
“A massive heartfelt thank you to everyone who has supported our
challenge and donated to such an amazing charity.
“We never expected to raise such an amount during the pandemic, as there are so many charities struggling at this time.
“Hopefully by raising awareness, it will lead to more funding for
research into Mitochondrial Disease,” explained Fiona.
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