As many of you know, on March 14th this year, we lost a dear friend and colleague, Donal Roantee, and Donal's family lost a loving husband, father, brother and uncle. 

30 years ago, Donal was diagnosed with a chronic liver condition, PSC. Although the disease caused a lot of fatigue, he managed his condition with medication & regular exercise. Over the last couple of years, however, Donal’s liver began to deteriorate more quickly and in September 2020 he was diagnosed with liver cancer. He was placed on a Liver Transplant list and initially the prognosis was good.  As always, Donal was extremely positive and convinced everyone not to worry too much but in January this year there was more devastating news as he learned the cancer had spread.  Donal was taken off the liver transplant list and was told the cancer was more aggressive than originally thought and now it was terminal.  Even at this stage Donal
remained positive, helping those close to him to deal with the news and never thinking of himself. 

Donal was the most compassionate, caring, gentle, patient, intelligent, encouraging, unassuming, empathetic, unusual, oblivious, weird, loving, funny, appreciative and humble human being ever.  He was super smart,  a Mathematician! He graduated from University College Dublin with a First Class Honours degree in Maths.  He subsequently taught Statistics to many people, and ironically, he passed away on 'Pi' day!  Above all, he was truly kind, probably the kindest person I have ever known.  Because he meant so much to us, the Spatialest team (15 people), alongside Donal's family (his wife, Julie and children, Paul, Luke, Daniel and Maria) wanted to do something positive in honour of this amazing man, so we have set ourselves a challenge.

Spatialest has a NI and a US Office. We have to cover the distance between the office in Coleraine, Northern Ireland and the other in Charlotte, North Carolina which is a distance of 3680 miles! Together, we are travelling on a virtual journey across the Atlantic Ocean to honour our friend, Donal! The challenge begins on June 1^st and ends on July 31^st so we have 2 months to run, walk, cycle or swim the distance!

The money raised will go towards Marie Curie and AWARE NI. Marie Curie nurses cared for Donal as they do for so many, allowing him to spend his last precious weeks at home with his family.  AWARE NI is another charity which was close to Donal’s heart, always wanting to help people in need.  It is the Depression Charity for Northern Ireland offering support and education for people living with depression,
anxiety and bipolar disorder.  We would be so grateful if you could help us raise some money to help these two amazing charities and to honour Donal Roantree.  

Thank you so much for supporting us!

The Spatialest Team and the Roantree family. xx

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