Lough Derg Sub Aqua Club assisting in World Record attempt in aid of the Share A Dream Foundation and the Temple Street Children’s Hospital
This Sunday 7th July a World Record attempt is being attempted in Lough Derg by Scuba Diver Christopher Healy to raise funds for the Share a Dream foundation and the Temple Street Children’s Hospital Metabolic Unit. Christopher has previously set a new World Record travelling a distance of 10km underwater to raise money for the Share a Dream Foundation. Nenagh based Lough Derg Sub Aqua Club, along with other dive clubs and divers, will be providing boat cover and cover divers to assist Christy in his attempt to travel a distance of 20km underwater in Lough Derg. He also plans to set a new record for the fastest 10km underwater while he’s at it. As you do!
The dive will commence at 4am from Two Mile Gate travelling up the Shannon for a distance before turning around and Christy hopes to surface at Killaloe at 4pm having travelled the 20km. The underwater hero will surface as another Irish hero is being celebrated at The Féile Brian Ború, which runs in Killaloe/Ballina from the 4th to 7th July. You can follow his adventures and incredible training regime and get in touch to make donations or offer assistance on his Facebook page ‘Christopher Healy – Diving for Charity’.
The craziest thing about the whole underwater adventure is that it is a precursor to the main event which Christy is planning for the end of August. He plans to attempt another new World Record by scuba diving from Scotland to Northern Ireland!
What got him started on this whole thing you might ask? In early 2010 Christopher (Christy) Healy and his wife Trish were told that their only child, Stephen (18) had Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma (cancer of the lymphoid tissue). The family faced the illness head on. A cousin of Christy’s who visited the hospital regularly was Jonathan Mangan who was also an active volunteer with The Share a Dream Foundation who do incredible work for sick children all over Ireland. To ‘give something back’/ ‘pay it forward’ for all the help and support received by the Healy family, Christy decided, as you do, to set a new World Record scuba diving 10 kilometers underwater to raise funds for Share a Dream. And what about Christy’s son Stephen? Well I am happy to say that after six months of Chemotherapy and a kidney operation Stephen was given the all clear.