On Thursday, Tom Kelly arrived in Castleisland and enjoyed a well deserved pint in Tom Mc Carthy’s Bar. Not for him the highlights of the Galway Races as Tom was on the final stages of his epic walk from Malin Head in Donegal to Mizen Head in Cork, which he completed on Sunday.
Tom was doing his walk for two charities: Aoibheann’s Pink Tie and for Barretstown. These most deserving charities help children with life threatening illnesses and their families. Tom, from Tallagh, undertook this walk in memory of his beautiful daughter, Leah, who died in August 2013.
Thursday’s walk was from Templeglantine to Castleisland and on Friday, Tom resumed his ramble with the long trek from Castleisland to Kenmare. Martin Moore of Tralee joined him for Thursday’s walk.
Last year, Tom undertook a similar challenge and walked from his native Dublin to Killarney in Leah’s memory. Alltogther this walk is a staggering 683 kilometres and Tom was looking forward to meeting his wife Rachel and children, Cara, Alesha and Ben in Bantry on Sunday.
“Footprints for Leah 2015, Dedicated to Leah, Cian Coleman, Sean and Sophie Moore, Fiona Moore, Georgia Smith, Adam McGuiness, Sam Coyle and all the Angels in heaven taken from us too soon,” said Tom on his Facebook page at journey’s end on Sunday.
“I personally found out a lot about myself, I really had to dig deep and discovered a determination and resolve within me that I though I had lost when Leah had passed away. It’s not just Leah that inspired me to do this but all the children who have lost their fight and the children who are fighting the fight now,” said Tom on the trials of the long, long walk.
Tom Kelly’s long trek can be tracked on his Facebook site: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Footprints-for-Leah/333972120061406?fref=ts
