Pat Smullen Charity Race

I am raising funds for Cancer Trials Ireland and the Oxford Liver and Pancreas Fund by riding in a charity horse race at the Curragh. This race is taking place on a day devoted to supporting the work of Cancer Trials Ireland in memory of Pat Smullen. Pat was a jockey, a legendary champion jockey, with a phenomenal CV. He was also a man with family and friends.

Pat died in 2020, having lived with pancreatic cancer for the previous two years. During those two years, he spent time and effort raising money and awareness of cancer, pancreatic cancer and research. Indeed there is a race day every year now devoted to this cause.

It is a cause that touches me deeply. As a research nurse I have the privilege of supporting patients diagnosed with cancer, and specifically pancreatic cancer every day. I feel the impact it has on people's lives, and the time pressures put on families; pancreatic cancer is often diagnosed so late that options are limited.

Our treatments for pancreatic cancer have not evolved alongside other diseases, it is still a poor prognosis for many.

This is the reason that research is so important and one that I support wholeheartedly.

I must do, as I am planning on riding in a horse race, some 20 years after I retired from race riding to raise awareness and funds. This is no small undertaking!

The Pat Smullen Charity Race will be held at the Curragh on the 26th of August, with 15 riders taking part. They all have a person or a reason that they are supporting cancer research.

I am riding for all of my patients, past and present, in the hope that we make a difference in the future.

Thankyou for your interest and support, please do share as awareness is the way forward.