Honouring Ava: Emma O’Brien’s Mini Marathon tribute supporting Children’s Health Foundation

Emma O’Brien will have her niece Ava firmly in mind when she takes part in this year’s Women’s Mini Marathon in support of Children’s Health Foundation.

“I’ll definitely just think of Ava 100%,” she says. “I kind of take her with me everywhere I go now.”

Emma signed up for the event in memory of Ava, who died aged 14 after being diagnosed with ovarian cancer.

The fundraiser was launched around what would have been Ava’s 18th birthday. “I was like, right, I’ll do it,” Emma says.

Ava became ill less than a year before she died and was cared for in CHI Crumlin.

Emma says the experience her family had there made choosing Children’s Health Foundation an easy decision.

“She had amazing care there in St John’s Ward,” she says. “The nurses, the doctors, oncologists, everybody, our whole team were really phenomenal.

“When I decided to do this, I was saying to myself, who else would I go for? CHF would have been the number one on my list, just for the level of care and how warm everyone was, how welcome they made everybody feel, and how well they looked after her.”

Emma remembers Ava as hugely talented, warm and full of energy.

“She had a gorgeous little smile, and she was just so positive and uplifting, even through all her sickness,” she says.

“She was always worried about everybody else. She was worried about her little brother James and worried about her mum and dad.”

A gifted artist, Ava loved sketching and painting.

She was also an Irish dancer and had spent part of her childhood living in Australia.

“She was a champion,” Emma says. “She was just everything you could ever imagine.”

Some of Emma’s strongest memories are from hospital. “I remember going in the ambulance when she had to go back in when she wasn’t well, and she’d always have the biggest smile on her face,” she says. “When she was so ill, she was still so positive.”

Emma says that even towards the end, Ava kept her sense of humour. “She was always having a laugh,” she says.

“She really, really fought.” She loved the sea, meditation and being outdoors, and had hoped to get back swimming.

“She really wanted to go for a swim,” Emma says. “That didn’t happen in the end.”

This will be Emma’s first organised running event, although she already runs and goes to the gym.

“I always kind of pottered around in the threes and fives because they’re nice and quick,” she says.

“So I just kind of upped it.” She says she is looking forward to the day itself, even if the scale of the event will be new.

“I’ve never done anything before, so I’m not sure what it’ll be like with the crowds and stuff, but I’m just going to take it as it comes and take in the atmosphere.”

The fundraising response has been far bigger than Emma expected. She had imagined support would come mainly from family, given the timing around Ava’s birthday, but the appeal quickly spread further.

“It kind of snowballed,” she says.

“Before I knew it, I was over my goal really quickly.”

She hopes the money raised will help other families going through difficult times.

“If it can help with equipment or helping children in need or making things a little bit easier for parents, anything at all really, I’d be really happy.”

Emma also remembers the support shown to Ava’s wider family throughout her treatment in the hospital.

“They genuinely cared,” she says.

“You could see that. If Ava woke up and she fancied something, they’d make it happen. It was just such a personal level of care.”

Emma hopes to have a photograph of Ava on her t-shirt with her on the day of the Mini Marathon.

“She’ll be in the forefront of my mind as I’m taking off,” she says. She says she will also be thinking of other children and families affected by childhood cancer.

“Everybody will get a thought as I’m taking off.”

This weekend over 170 women will join Emma to take part in the VHI Women’s Mini Marathon for Team Children’s Health Foundation, raising vital funds for sick children and their families to fund lifesaving research, holistic therapies and family supports.

You can support Emma’s run in memory of Ava by visiting https://www.idonate.ie/fundraiser/emmaobrien5