LONG READ: Service user living with epilepsy swims 1.5km and raises over €1,000 for Epilepsy Ireland

“Someone who really enjoys life, a bubbly character who loves his swimming and horse riding, and is very much involved in the local community,” is how John Hayes, services manager at Ard Rí, described Daniel O’Connell following his recent fundraising achievement.

Daniel, a full-time resident and service user at Resilience Healthcare in Cashel, raised over €1,000 for Epilepsy Ireland after swimming 60 lengths of his local pool as part of his person-centred plan for 2025.

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Living with epilepsy himself, this challenge was both personal and inspiring to Daniel, and gave him the opportinity to raise awareness and financial support for a cause very close to his heart.

John Hayes spoke to the Tipperary Star about how Daniel’s remarkable achievement came about.

“We felt that it would be a very meaningful goal,” he began.

“Daniel attends his local swimming pool on a weekly basis, so he and his key workers felt it would be great to do something that benefits Epilepsy Ireland as well as Daniel himself.

“So we came up with this plan that for the month of April, Daniel would do 60 laps of the local pool, as being in the water is something he really enjoys anyway. So we got sponsorship cards out to the local community, friends, family, staff members, and he ended up raising €1,011 overall in what was such a positive achievement.”

Resilience Healthcare hosted a coffee morning on Wednesday, September 3, and welcomed representatives from Epilepsy Ireland which allowed Daniel to present his cheque in person.

Daniel is one of five full-time residents at the Cashel facility, where person centred plans play a huge role in their work towards individual goals throughout the year.

“It’s something that we really promote for our residents,” John continued.

“It’s a very individualised thing for all of our services and can be every 12 months or every six months depending on the service users themselves.

“We like to sit down and draft up these person centred plans, looking at an awful lot of different topics and activities that could be done over the short, medium, and long-term. In Daniel’s case, he really enjoys the water, so his plan was centred around something of an existing personal interest.”

Daniel’s money will go towards Epilepsy Ireland, and the work they have been doing on a national basis since 1966. Their vision is to achieve a society where no person's life is limited by epilepsy.

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They also seek to empower all those affected by epilepsy to achieve their full potential by providing high-quality community-based support and education, raising public awareness, conducting effective advocacy, and supporting research.

John Hayes of Ard Rí says any financial backing of the organisation can really go a long way.

“I think the work that they do is absolutely phenomenal. A lot of our service users are living with epilepsy so we see first-hand the work that it can do.

“Initially people that might be suffering with seizures but not have an official epilepsy diagnosis, it can be used to help people in that primary phase.

Then it can also be used in secondary phases to provide ongoing support in the form of focus groups and one-on-one support services too. They money can be used for a variety of things, and overall it will aid in the support of people living with epilepsy right across the country.”

John concluded with a word of thanks to Daniel, the staff at Resilience Healthcare, and the local community who got behind the initiative, saying the level of interest and positivity from start to finish was really encouraging.

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