A Dublin woman is running 100km for her husband with motor neurone disease who "can't hold his daughter's hand" anymore.
Orlagh Reynolds lives with her Australian husband Fraser and their daughter Oonagh in Rathfarnham. Fraser has only had MND for 12 weeks and is already unable to hold his daughter's hand.
MND is a progressive neurological condition that attacks the motor neurones, or nerves, in the brain and spinal cord. Messages gradually stop reaching muscles, which leads to weakness and wasting, and MND affects how you walk, talk, eat, drink, and breathe.
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Orlagh explained: “This is the scariest journey I've ever been on. We’re seeing decline every single day.
"Even yesterday, he couldn’t squeeze the tomato sauce out of the bottle. You wouldn’t wish it on your worst enemy.
“When my daughter holds his hand when he walks, it’s not just to say ‘I love you’ now, it’s to help him. That was four weeks ago. Now he can’t hold her hand.
“The day Fraser got diagnosed, it was the first time in my life where I didn’t have a solution. I can’t come up with how to fix it, I just cannot help. I read up on MND and Fraser is going to lose his mobility and I wanted to do something and to try and be positive.
“So I thought, what am I going to do? Will I jump out of a plane? Fraser said no because he needs me to stay alive!
"Will I do a marathon? No, I don't have the time to train for one.
"One day I was speaking to my neighbour and I decided to run 100km for Fraser in August.”
Not only is Orlagh's running creating awareness, she is also raising money and helping her mental health during one of the worst times of her life. She added: “What’s really ironic is that Fraser's mobility in the last four weeks has declined, so the more I do, the less he’s able to do.
"His friends over in Australia feel helpless, so they’re going to run too. There’s people in France, Scotland, America, and then all his colleagues, people in my company too.
“I knew running would be good for my mental health, it’s a comfort blanket. I work full time, I care for our daughter and I'm Fraser's full time carer. The running has kind of been my getaway place.
“Our last run is on Wednesday. People from my office and from Fraser's office are just going to run from the office to the pub to celebrate. When you think of mobility, you think walking, swimming, cycling and running.
“It’s more than feet, it’s your hands, it's your tongue, it’s everything and that’s what’s been taken away from Fraser. It’s a privilege to be able to do it.
“The money is going to the Irish Motor Neurone Association. It will go towards a bit of everything, clinical trials and counselling - this is a disease that is going to kill. My daughter will get therapy, we’ve received stuff in the home to help Fraser, a nurse visits him every six weeks too who specialises in MND.”
You can donate to the Irish Motor Neurone Disease Association here.
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