Director/Owner of Whitewater in Sandyford completes charity cycle...
Arriving in Rosslare, Co. Wexford on Saturday 2nd of November, Mark Keating cycled over 6,000 km from Dublin, Ireland, to Belgrade and back to Ireland, he was greeted off the boat in Rosslare, Co. Wexford in good Irish rain and to rapturous welcomes. He peddled his way on up the road and stopped at Jack Whites to have a nice cuppa and another welcoming party along with members of his cycling club IMBRC who were there to Cycle the last leg home with Mark. Arriving at his home to more banners and ecstatic welcomes from family and friends "well it's hard to describe in words the feeling, it was just fantastic, to see my family after nearly 3 months" Mark said. On arrival home the kilometers travelled was a staggering 6,680. A total of 93 days away from home and 14 countries travelled through and a lot of saddle soreness..That night Whitewater had organised a home coming night, in Fitzpatrick's Killiney Castle, Mark couldn't wait to see all his colleagues, friends, supporters and sponsors. A fantastic night was had by all with good food which was a truly welcomed change from Mark's Tent and camp food.
Having Arrived in Belgrade on Saturday 14th September, Mark Keating had cycled over 3,500 km from Dublin, Ireland, to present €8,000 for The Institute of Mother & Child Health Care in Belgrade to purchase equipment in the Burns unit. They need a new skin graft machine as the present one is 20 years old. This new Skin Graft Mesher will improve the way a skin graft is performed to the burn area and reduce the chance of additional infection to children who have suffered severe burns. On the 27th of September Mark left Belgrade to depart on the return leg of his journey, which contained many more challenges.
The return journey is to raise funds for two Irish Children's hospitals.The two Irish children's Hospitals, Temple Street and Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children tell us that they need vital specialist equipment to help our most sick children in their Intensive Care Units.
At Temple Street hospital the funds will buy a NoxBoxi Nitric Oxide Delivery System which is used for very sick children who are not responding to conventional ventilation. The current systems they have are very basic and labour intensive as they require constant adjustment due to any changes in ventilator settings. The NoxBoxi is a new "Intelligent" system which monitors the Ventilator flow to the patient and automatically makes adjustments to the Nitric Oxide Delivery rate accordingly. In critical situations the use of Nitric Oxide Therapy can be the difference between life and death.
The chosen equipment for Our Lady's Hospital is a bedside Brain Monitor which gives 24 hour real time information on brain function in both hemi¬spheres of the brain and will be used to help assess the condition of very sick new born babies in the Intensive care unit, this equipment will reduce the chance of brain damage to very sick children.
In just 93 days, from Tuesday 12th of August up until 2nd November, there was lots of excitement for Mark Keating on his gruelling 6,000km solo charity cycle from Dublin to Belgrade. He left his home in Bray, Co. Wicklow, Ireland, packed for this adventure, not knowing what to expect. Mark is CEO of Whitewater, leading suppliers of water purification equipment.
On Friday 15th of November Mark visited both Temple Street and Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children Intensive Care Units to see where the equipment will be used and presented the two cheques for €26,000 for each hospital. Mark said" I am very lucky, and privileged to have been able make this journey, some of it back in time to old places I was 20 years ago with the Red Cross, and some of it totally new, to have made new friends that I met on the way and see the old friends from days gone by. I am very lucky to have had the support from sponsors, colleagues and family, they all played a part, to make this unusual way of giving something good and positive back to the wider Community, possible"
ALL THE FUNDS raised from this trip, went directly to purchase this equipment for these Children's hospitals.
TO MAKE A DONATION LOG ON TO www.whitewaterfoundation.org and follow the PayPal instruction.
Article Published: 21/11/2013