Pink jerseys will be popping up along roadsides and in parks in Buncrana in the next few months ahead of a special fundraiser in memory of a beloved baby girl.
Katie Fullerton was just 14 months old when she tragically died of cot death in March 2024.
Her parents, Declan and Deirdre Fullerton, and a wide circle of family and friends are set to honour Katie by taking part in the Waterside Half Marathon in September.
‘Team Katie’ will be proudly wearing bright pink jerseys in their “run to remember our angel in Heaven”.
Declan and Deirdre have been moved by the rush of support for their fundraising challenge.
The loss of their youngest daughter was compounded by the heartbreaking loss of Declan’s sister two weeks earlier.
“We are still numb and in shock from everything,” Declan tells Donegal Daily.
Katrina Fullerton was an adored schoolteacher and mother of one who passed away in Lyon, France, shortly after a cancer diagnosis. She was 33 years old.
“We flew Katrina home and buried her on a Saturday, and then it was the following Wednesday when we discovered Katie. It was just a horrible time for the family. We still don’t have any answers as to why Katie passed away.”
Katrina has been lovingly remembered through tributes by her colleagues in France and at iCare, where she also worked in Buncrana.
Honouring Katie will be another emotional journey for the family, but one that is spurring people to achieve great personal and fitness goals.
Declan said: “Deirdre and I just wanted to do something with family and a few friends to remember Katie. We realised a half marathon was coming up in Derry in September, so we just said we’d sign up for that and tell our brothers and sisters.
“Then a few more people heard about it and they wanted to join in too. We started getting all these messages from people saying they’d do the half marathon, and it just spiralled out of control.”
Now there are 80 people officially registered as Team Katie, but many more who didn’t get a place will be there to cheer them on.
“The effort from everyone putting their name in for the cause has been amazing,” Declan said. “People who never even jogged before are going out and starting Couch to 5K training programmes.”
Their effort is generously supported by Donegal sportswear company O’Reilly Sports, who designed the jerseys and are donating all proceeds from sales to the chosen charities.
With 150 jerseys now sold and in production, Declan says “we’ll be seeing pink jerseys out on the road everywhere now.”
Team Katie Jersey by O’Reilly Sports
Team Katie will also be represented by family friends at the Great North Run in Newcastle, which is on the same day as the Waterside event.
Declan and Deirdre have chosen to give back to two charities that extended kind offers of support to them following their tragic loss.
Buncrana Children’s Charity, which supports families all over Inishowen, had offered them a short Irish holiday.
“We were still too numb so we declined the offer,” Declan said. “They were so good to reach out to us that we wanted to give back to them to help other families.”
The family were also contacted by First Light, a grief charity that supports the parents and families who have lost a child. They offered play therapy to Declan and Deirdre’s eldest daughter, Ella, who was three years old when Katie passed.
The ‘Team Katie’ mission will also place a memorial bench in Katie’s name at Swan Park in Buncrana, where they have many happy memories of the tot. The Fullertons will be funding this memorial themselves.
“We used to take her to Swan Park nearly every day and let her run about. It’s a place we will always remember her by,” he said.
“This bench will be a lasting tribute to her fun-loving spirit, in a setting that meant so much to Katie and to us.”
Anyone who wishes to support Team Katie in the lead up to the Waterside Half Marathon is welcome to donate at: https://www.gofundme.com/f/wnbxq-team-katie
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