8th May will be the first anniversary of the death of my Dad Damian McKeown.

My Dad spent the last few months of his life in the NI Hospice. This made that time so much more bearable, respectful and dignified for my Dad and for all our family.

It allowed us to spend that time in an environment which was relaxed, where my Dad had unbelievable care and the whole family were treated with the utmost class .

On Monday 5th May members of my family (myself, my wife Mairead, brother Sean, Seans partner Charlene, and cousin Tony) will be running the Belfast Marathon relay in memory of my Dad and to raise funds for the NI Hospice.

When you experience first hand the services that NI Hospice provide on the limited budgets that they are restricted to you wonder how they can function. 

A lot of it is down to the endless hours that the unpaid volunteers devote to helping make it such a beautiful place for families to spend the last days/weeks/months with their loved ones.

I would appreciate any donation, no matter how small it may be, as it is truly a wonderful place in need of much needed funding.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity. So it’s the most efficient way to donate – saving time and cutting costs for the charity.