Joe Hammel
Joe is running 10k a day for 365 days
Fundraising for Children’s Health Foundation Crumlin
Story
Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.
In June 2019, our 7-year-old son, Joseph, was diagnosed with having a large inflammatory tumor between his heart and lung.
This was and will remain undoubtedly the darkest time of our lives. Nothing will ever hit us harder than sitting in those hospital rooms being told of the gravity of our son's condition.
A large tumor was discovered between his lung and heart which needed urgent removal.
The tumor (IMT) had grown to the size of a melon. The biopsy concluded it was not appropriate to remove in its current state and needed to be shrunk considerably to be removed safely. Due to the rare nature of this tumor, traditional chemotherapy was not viewed as a strong option to shrink the tumor.
Very quickly, a whole new world opened to us, that existed behind those hospital walls in Our Lady's Children's Hospital Crumlin.
Our son was now under the care of one of the best pediatric oncology teams in Europe under the guidance and direction of Dr Cormac Owens. We owe so much to the remarkable talent and care he and his team gave our son. The team, through their extensive research and knowledge network identified an unlicensed trial treatment which in their view gave the best chances of shrinking this tumor. As the treatment was unlicensed, the team made a successful application to the drug company on compassionate grounds. Joseph spent 128 days on this treatment, and it reduced the tumor's volume by over 30%. The medical team noted the treatment had a spectacular effect on the tumor, but unfortunately it was not enough to save all of his left lung.
Most of the tumor was removed in December 2019 by the country's leading pediatric heart surgeon Mr Lars Nolke. We will be forever be indebted to Lars for the extraordinary work he performed that day.
His remarkable surgery was performed in such a way that it gave Joseph the best possible chance to live a normal life after the tumor was removed. We are equally thankful to the physio team for their care in Joseph's rehabilitation.
During surgery, it was discovered the tumor had spread to multiple areas which made the surgery more challenging and required a partial diaphragm removal, pericardiectomy (heart sac removal), partial oesophagus removal and a lobectomy.
Joseph is still carrying residual tumor tissue that spread to remote areas .The medical team prefer to monitor these cells for this time being and he will continue to be a patient of Our Lady's Hospital until he is a young adult. However, because of the care and treatment he has received in Crumlin, we are hopeful he will grow to live as much as normal life as we could hope and pray for.
Like so many families in this country, Our Lady’s Crumlin has become part of our lives and will remain so close to our hearts forever. The devotion, dedication and care each employee of Our Lady's provide the patients and families of the hospital makes it one of the greatest institutions in this country. Every staff member from the nurses, doctors, canteen, cleaning, admin, shop, physios, parking, security, care assistants, therapists left a lasting impression on our lives we will forever be grateful for. God only knows what troubles they are going through in their own lives, but when they come to work, they give everything to collectively making patients lives that little bit easier.
Behind the scenes, Crumlin is a well-oiled machine, and this is largely down to donations. All families that visit Crumlin benefit from these donations, whether by way of much needed medical equipment and supplies, to critical research, and finding the best care available for children.
It is now my turn to help raise much needed funds for the hospital by committing to run at least 10k a day for 365 consecutive days commencing on 1st July 2020. The funds raised will go to the Children’s Cancer / Oncology unit who will decide where the money will be spent.
We will never be able to repay the hospital and its extraordinary staff for all they have done for us, but we hope the money raised will help children like Joseph on their journey back to full health.
Due to Covid19, the hospital's fun raising efforts have been dramatically reduced with the cancellations of events such as marathons and sports events where they relied on so much of their funding.
We understand everyone has their own preferred charities and there are a lot of fund raising efforts for charities through social media, but if you could please promote my fund raising effort through your own channels, we would be extremely grateful.
**For anyone interested in joining a 10k on a Saturday or Sunday you are more than welcome to join.
Every Saturday at 8.30am, I will run the Boyne 10k route starting from Dominics Park car park on the Rathmullan Road (next to playground) at 8:30am.
The pace will be light and suit all abilities.
Many Thanks for taking the time to read our story
Joe & Nicole Hammel
ps you can follow my progress daily on;
Instagram @hammeljoe
Strava - copy and paste below link to web address bar
https://www.strava.com/athletes/16607175
Recent radio interviews:
South East Radio
https://www.southeastradio.ie/2020/09/wexford-man-to-run-10k-for-365-days-in-fundrasing-campaign-for-crumlin-hospital/
2fm with Jennifer Zamparelli (Skip to 29:20)
https://www.rte.ie/radio/radioplayer/html5/#/2fm/11231542
Articles
https://droghedalife.com/news/mornington-boys-grateful-dad-running-10k-a-day-for-a-year-for-childrens-cancer-unit?fbclid=IwAR1FwWw0KN2CL5ZnzZYsAHLdbk-4vAwuEfWqnLrU9vrlkaPvFqIfN5hpvYg
https://www.rsvplive.ie/life/family/meath-dad-joe-hammel-running-22704168?fbclid=IwAR2MzZUBhPFsE5i2vcY_y1BoKXpGuIWmPP1jRa8PXKTpvd77niGAypACauE
https://www.irishmirror.ie/news/irish-news/meath-dad-runs-10k-day-22601721?fbclid=IwAR04zn5X9HuFmmVj53IwafTnaORBaqpwP0yuE4wMD-omj8X06_ks5MZJ0Is
Irish Runner Magazine December 2020
Drogheda Life Article for day 300
https://droghedalife.com/news/after-running-3000-kms-for-crumlin-hospital-joe-has-worked-up-a-thirst
A recent Dublin Story Slam event where I shared a story ablaut why Crumlin is made up of such wonderful people from all areas of the hospital
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAGJcSu23Co
Post 365 day challenge coverage
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/man-runs-3-650km-in-a-year-to-raise-funds-for-hospital-caring-for-his-son-1.4608112
https://droghedalife.com/news/joe-runs-10k-a-day-for-a-full-year-to-thank-hospital-for-saving-his-sons-life
https://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/10km-a-day-for-a-year-as-meath-man-raises-funds-for-childrens-cancer-unit-1149574.html
https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/dad-runs-10km-a-day-for-365-days-to-raise-money-for-hospital-caring-for-his-son-9-40599616.html
