A newly qualified doctor who only bought a bike six weeks ago will today undertake an anticipated 24-hour cycle from Donegal's Malin Head to Mizen Head in Cork. He is tackling the route to Ireland's most southwesterly point to raise funds for suicide charity Pieta House.
Dr Pat O'Connor (26), from Castletownroche, Co Cork, who is an intern at the Bon Secours Hospital in Cork City, is pretty much a novice in terms of charity cycles.
“I have borrowed my sister’s bike with the wobbly back wheel and gone on a few short charity cycles, but nothing like this,” he said. “I got the idea seven weeks ago and bought the bike a week later. I have been pushing myself very hard. I want it to be hard. I want it to be symbolic of what people with depression go through. It will be like empathising on a smaller scale with what a person with depression experiences.”
O’Connor was particularly struck by the devastating grief felt by a family who had lost two brothers and a niece to suicide in a relatively short period while he was working at Cork University Hospital.
“It is horrific. What do you even say to these people? And it can be so unexpected. You hear it all the time. People don’t understand what has happened as they say: ‘He was the life and soul of the party. I was only out with him last week.’ I have heard people say they were jealous of a person who died by suicide because he had so many friends and was so popular. People can appear to be the life and soul of the party, but they are hiding their depression with humour. People become so good at hiding it. Men in particular still have a stigma about depression and hide things at all costs.”
He says it can be heartbreaking seeing the utter turmoil the bereaved experience and the blame they attribute to themselves for failing to see the signs. He is hoping that this event can raise awareness of suicide and show people suffering from depression that there are opportunities available to them through Pieta House.
He believes that the symbolism of cycling from darkness back into the light on the second half of the journey will show people that depression can be temporary and something that anyone can recover from.
On a practical note, he will have a support team on hand who will feed him “quick jellies and sandwiches” as he cycles. He anticipates that the weather for the 570km cycle will be “cold, wet and windy”. He acknowledges that he is putting himself through quite an ordeal given that cycling isn’t really his hobby of choice.
“If I could do it easily, there wouldn’t be a point to it. I am not somebody who does stuff like this all the time. I do change my mind a lot. I just got an idea and went with it. I have a day off on Monday and am supposed to be back to work in the Bons on Tuesday. Hopefully, I will be back to work and not there as a patient!”
He begins his journey at 2pm today (Saturday) from Donegal and is hoping to make it to Mizen Head between 1pm and 2pm tomorrow. The event can be fully followed on MizMal24 on facebook and #mizmal24 on twitter.
His aim is to raise several thousand euro for the charity. He is particularly thankful for the support of his mother, Anne, who went bike shopping for him just days after he came up with the plan.
“People probably doubted me, but my mother fully backed me. She always does. The support from her, family and friends has been overwhelming. I just hope I can get through it. Suicide is just such a permanent solution to a temporary problem. Everyone has daily stresses and they feel pushed to their limit. Things can just get to be too much. I hope people will see that you can come through incredibly hard times. It is possible if you reach out and get help.”
All proceeds from the event will be donated to Pieta House and donations can be made at the following link:
http://www.mycharity.ie/event/pat_o_connors_mizmal24