Ferbane man honours late wife with charity drive

Just over three months after losing his wife Emma, Ferbane's Greg Dooley has set up a foundation in her memory that hopes to raise money for two of her favourite charities. Greg and his friends plan to run ten 10km races over the course of the next ten months to raise both awareness of and money for the Strange Boat Donor Foundation and the National Rehabilitation Hospital. It's hoped the tenth race of the series will form part of an event in Ferbane marking the first year anniversary of Emma's passing. Thirty year old Emma died on June 10 last, three days after a crash on the N62 on her way to work in AIB Birr from the home she shared with Greg in Ferbane. Organs donated by Emma benefited five people, including two children. Organ donor information and cards were also contained within Mass booklets printed for her funeral Mass and donations to Strange Boat welcomed in lieu of flowers. Greg's quest now hopes to raise money for the same charity, which was set up to raise awareness of the importance of organ donation and to give comfort, consolation and support to all those affected by organ donation. In addition, funds will be raised for the National Rehabilitation Hospital, which provides services to patients who have acquired physical or cognitive disabilities and need specialist medical rehabilitation. A runner in his youth, Greg said he hadn't run for perhaps ten years prior to taking it up again in the months after Emma's death. His charity running efforts began proper last Saturday, September 8, however, when he took part in a 10km run in Manorhamilton in aid of the Emma Dooley Foundation. Crossing the line in just over an hour, he said he was surprised how well he felt after competing for the first time in years. Next up is a race in Galway on October 6 and then the Mo Run in Dublin on November 17. After starting out with a group of about 15 willing to take part in races, Greg says that since the foundation's website - www.emmadooley.net - went live another 15 people have gotten on board for future races. "The more the merrier," he said this week, encouraging anyone interested in joining the effort to get in touch with him. The foundation's website includes Greg's story of his wife and the day she crashed. "It was the day that turned my world upside-down and something that I'll never forget," he says. Making the decision to donate Emma's organs in the days after was also difficult he says, but was something the couple had talked about. "The decisions that I needed to make was something that I'll never forget and will stick with me for the rest of my life," he says, "but I knew what Em wanted and that was to give life to others." Speaking to the Offaly Independent Greg said he knew only a month after Emma's death that he wanted to do something. "I just wanted to do it for myself and Emma," he said, adding that the charity effort is something he can focus on until Emma's one year anniversary next June. Though Greg has no set figure in mind to raise, he says he'd dearly love to be able to raise over €100,000 over the foundation's first year. He intends to carry on charity efforts into the future too, with mountain climbing planned for next year, a Mizen to Malin Head cycle the year after and Kilimanjaro the year after that again. Donations to the Emma Dooley Foundation will shortly be accepted online at www.emmadooley.net, but in the interim donations can be sent to Greg at 21 Ballyvora Grove, Ferbane, Co. Offaly. "Throughout our ten years together, Em made me the person I am today and changed my life forever," Greg says. "I hope I can make her proud and that she's looking down on me forever more."