Run when you can, walk if you have to, crawl if you must, just never give up.
Dean Karnazes

Today is the day of the Dublin Marathon.

The picture is that of Tommy Drummond. Not Dean Karnazes, the American ultra marathon runner.

Although, Tommy is at least, if not more, as focussed, determined and driven as Dean.

Tommy is also a most generous and kind man.

And in my personal context, one of the few people I know who truly understands what it means to have a son with a severe Acquired Brain Injury. Because Tommy also has a son, Seán, who like Pádraig, suffered a devastating brain injury in a terrible accident in 2019. And because Tommy and his family also never gave up but did whatever they could do to encourage and support their son.

Amazingly, Tommy ran last year’s Dublin Marathon not for Seán, but for the An Saol Foundation. But wait.

This year, today, he is running the Dublin Marathon for Pádraig and set up a fundraiser for everybody who would like to support him and contribute to his fundraising effort.

On his fundraising page, he briefly recounts Pádraig’s and his own son’s story.

Tommy includes a link to the video of an interview I gave in 2016 on TV3’s Ireland AM to Sinead Desmond and Ian Nocher.

I had completely forgotten about it.

Watching it again, after eight long years, it brought home the message that Life is not a sprint. It is a marathon. It leaves traces, is painful, and feels like an eternity.

Good luck to Tommy and all the other marathon runners today.

Please donate here if you can afford to do so.

We wlill never give up: Run when we can, walk if we have to, crawl if we must. But never ever stop moving.