Dublin teacher runs marathon for charity inspired by friend’s liver transplant
Dublin teacher Niamh Foran is running this weekend’s Dublin Marathon to raise money for the Irish Kidney Association, inspired by her friend Edel Cashman’s life-saving liver transplant. Foran’s daily 11:11 wish for Cashman to receive a donor liver became a lasting symbol of their friendship, marked by matching tattoos.
The friends met while studying at University College Dublin. Cashman, who had an autoimmune disease from childhood, became seriously ill after sepsis in 2016 and spent 22 months on the transplant waiting list before receiving a liver in October 2018. Foran chose the charity because it promotes organ donation and supports people with kidney disease and their families.
In short
- Niamh Foran is running the Dublin Marathon for the Irish Kidney Association.
- Her friend Edel Cashman received a liver transplant in 2018.
- Their daily 11:11 wish became matching tattoos.
Explained simply
Organ transplants use organs donated by people who have died or, in some cases, by living donors. People who need a transplant may wait until a suitable organ becomes available, and charities such as the Irish Kidney Association promote organ donation and support patients and their families.
Edel Cashman had an autoimmune disease from childhood, in which the body’s defences attack its own tissues. After she became seriously ill with sepsis, she spent 22 months waiting for a donor liver; Niamh Foran, her friend from University College Dublin, supported her through that time. Foran’s fundraising links their friendship with wider efforts to raise awareness of organ donation.
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Originally published by Daily Mail as “‘While my friend waited for a life-giving gift of a liver, I began a daily ritual which ended up becoming immortalised in matching tattoos’: The heartwarming reason one Dublin Marathon runner will take to the start line…”.