A brave cancer survivor has challenged himself to run the Rome marathon in aid of a worthy local charity.
Letterkenny man, Conor Dorrian, was first diagnosed in 2013 with Primary CNS Lymphoma, a rare inoperable aggressive cancerous brain tumour, and for a second time in 2017.
During that time he received treatment and care in Beaumont Hospital, St Luke’s Hospital and St James Hospital.
“I underwent chemotherapy, radiation therapy as well as a stem cell transplant,” he explains.
“I was also paralysed for a month in 2017 when I lost mobility in the right side of my body.”

A collage showing Conor’s cancer journey.
However Conor is happy that this chapter of his life is now behind him. To mark ten years since his first diagnosis, he and three friends – Charlie Boyle, Conor Gallen, and Gareth Coady – will take part in the Rome Marathon on the 19th of March.
“We are running it for a very special charity, one that my family and I would have been lost without when I was receiving radiation treatment in St.Luke’s Hospital – Friends of Letterkenny University Hospital,” he adds.
Friends of Letterkenny University Hospital is a voluntary organisation that provides such an important service for the people of Donegal
Their services include the provision of medical equipment, facilities, services and patient comforts in the hospital which would not otherwise be available from central funding.
They also provide free transport for people from Donegal who require radium treatment in St. Luke’s Hospital in Dublin
“Any donation would mean so much to us to support this brilliant charity,” he concluded.
If you want to donate to Conor’s marathon effort, you can do so by going to his GoFundMe page.
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