A Few Euro For a Few Miles for Josh

Josh from Dublin, is my 21 year old nephew and god son. He was born without eyes, thus is fully blind since birth and has undergone a number of operations to enable him to have prosthetic eyes. He has autism and other medical / developmental complications, which has required for example, hormone treatment and a range of medical interventions.  Josh is a huge soccer, GAA and rugby fan, he loves music and having a laugh. However, a number of years ago Josh developed chronic epilepsy . He has a number of seizures throughout the day and throughout the night, which means his parents need to be beside him 24 hours a day, in order to administer medication to prevent him from going into a coma within minutes of a seizure. At present, Josh needs to be fed intermittently though a tube to try and maintain his weight and health. As a result of this traumatic downturn in his health the quality of Josh and his parent's life has been drastically affected. Despite having fundraised quietly and without looking for thanks nor praise through the years for St. Joseph's School for the Visually Impaired and other causes, they have never sought any support for their care for Josh such as adapting their car, getting his wheelchair and adapting his bedroom. As Josh has gotten older and bigger, the physical demands of dealing with everyday life, and in particular, with his seizures have increased. I am running the Dublin Marathon, my first, in October 2018 to raise money for Josh's medical and respite care.  I am doing this as a surprise for his very (overly) proud parents; a couple who never ask for help but, now more than ever, desperately need and deserve it.