WELL over 3,000 people have walked in the dark of night in memory of a Killarney schoolboy who died tragically just over six years ago.
Nathan’s Walk – part of the nationwide Darkness into Light fundraiser – was an overwhelming success in Killarney early this Saturday morning with the turnout exceeding the wildest dreams of the organisers.
Nathan O’Carroll from Ross Road was just 14 years of age when he passed away and the sudden nature of his death, in December 2007, stunned the town and left his family and friends devastated.
Showing remarkable strength in the face of such a heartbreaking episode in their lives, Nathan’s parents, Denis and Marie, and brothers, Damien, Killian, Aaron and Ryan, organised an annual walk, dedicated to his memory, to raise funds for suicide and self-harm crisis centre Pieta House.
This year’s Nathan’s Walk/Darkness Into Light project attracted multiples of last year’s attendance and there was hardly room to fall over as thousands of men, women and children – as well as countless canine companions – turned out in force shortly after 4am this Saturday.
The masses left the starting point at the Gleneagle Hotel in pitch darkness at 4.15am and wound their way along the 5km route, through Killarney National Park and past Muckross Abbey before returning to the Gleneagle complex, to complete their fundraising commitment, just as dawn broke.
Pieta House chief executive, Joan Freeman, had encouraged everyone in Killarney to get involved to help raise funds for the provision of essential services provided by the organisation and they certainly answered the call in no uncertain terms.
The walk, held in association with Electric Ireland, was a very unique, early morning fundraising event.
Thousands of people, carrying torches, walked along the shores of Muckross Lake while dawn was breaking and Killarney rubbed sleep from its eyes.
Nathan’s Walk was one of several Darkness Into Light events held at 39 locations throughout the country with a similar fundraiser in London, organised by Killarney woman Tara Cronin, and another in Sydney, Australia.
Walks were also held in Carlow, Cavan, Clare, Dublin, Mayo, Limerick, Cork, Roscommon, Donegal, Galway, Tipperart, Louth, Waterford, Kildare, Kilkenny, Meath, Westmeath, Wicklow, Monaghan, Wexford, Laois, Sligo, Longford, Offaly, Leitrim,
