Paddle the Shannon

Back story

The events of the last two years with Covid-19 have been unprecedented and my thoughts are with all those who have suffered the loss of family and friends or the uncertainty of work or normal social life. To that end an equally horrible and all too familiar disease has never gone away and that is Cancer.

This year more than 40,000 people in Ireland will hear the words ‘you have cancer’. Thankfully, though, cancer is no longer a death sentence – 6 in 10 people diagnosed with life threatening invasive cancer will survive the disease for at least 5 years, and most of those will not succumb to their disease. Almost all diagnosed with non-invasive cancers such as Non-Melanoma Skin Cancer (NMSC) will be cured, Survival rates are continuing to improve, and people are living well with cancer and living for longer thanks to research and advances in detection and treatment. Now, more than 200,000 people are living with and beyond cancer in Ireland.

 

I have witnessed Cancer and its devastation from losing my uncle to lung cancer and later a close friend who passed away far too early being only in his forties leaving a wife and two young daughters, but more recently my fiancée’s family were devasted by the loss of their mammy to ovarian cancer, she was only 68. At the same time, my fiancée’s older sister was battling with the pancreatic cancer and miraculously she survived surgery and chemotherapy but the strain this had on the family was terrible.

Having seen how my mother-in-law was treated at the Hermitage in Dublin set amongst the beautiful backdrop of the Liffey Valley I was inspired to give something back and raise money for Cancer Research Ireland. Now, being a keen kayaker, initially I decided I wanted to paddle the river Liffey as I would often sit on the banks while my Mother-in-law was receiving treatment, but I have also wanted to paddle the Shannon for some time from its source in Cavan to Carrigaholt where it becomes the sea.

 

The Shannon

The Shannon is the longest river in mainland Ireland, so long it divides Ireland in two, and passes through 11 counties, it is so big with Loughs Allen, Ree and Dearg that it accounts for one fifth of Irelands mass, Steeped in history and folklore legend states that “Síonnan, the daughter of Lodan (a son of the Celtic God of the Sea, Lír), came to the Shannon Pot in search of the great Salmon of Wisdom (an bradan feasa). The great Salmon was angered at the sight of Síonnan and caused the pool to overflow and drown the maiden. Thus, the Shannon was created and still bears her name to this day.

Now I do not know a lot about Irish folklore, but I do know rivers are symbolic of life! Water gives life, life needs water and water connects and heals.

 

The plan

I will be planning to complete the Shannon paddle in March 2022 with a fellow paddling friend Dave Walsh, but he is not just another ordinary paddling friend but a guy with a remarkable story of surviving a stage 3 aggressive head and neck cancer and is bouncing back after extensive treatment and invasive surgery and now like so many he wants to give something back too.

We aim to complete the paddle in two phases, phase one will be to paddle 24Km fromthe Shannon Pot in small crossover kayaks to Corry Strand on the northern shore of Lough Allen in a day, and then phase two will be to paddle the remaining 310Km from Corry Strand to Carrigaholt in larger Sea Kayaks, again unsupported over eight days averaging more than 40 kilometres a day and wild camping along the route.

Please support our paddle by giving generously to my go fund me page in support of the Irish Cancer Society and help make a difference as I have seen first-hand what a second chance means.

Thank you,

 

Lee Waters