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Cancer survivor golfs his way
along Wild Atlantic Way
11.03.17
A CANCER survivor is a
'par-ticularly' unusual sight as he walks the entire
west coast of Ireland with a bag of golf clubs on
his back.
Englishman Nick Edmund (56) set off from Malin Head
this week on his 'crazy' challenge to walk the
2,000km Wild Atlantic Way, playing one hole at forty
golf courses en-route.
The qualified barrister and golf writer, is
undertaking the gruelling golf-walk to raise money
for cancer patients in the west of Ireland.
His mammoth undertaking, for Cancer Care West, is
all the more remarkable given that he had a hip
replacement only three months ago.
The orthopaedic operation follows a diagnosis of
head and neck cancer in 2014. As part of his
oncology treatment, the right parotid gland and
lymph nodes on the right side of his neck were
removed and he was given a 50:50 chance of survival.
He had a tumour removed from his forehead last year.
The Devon-born father-of-two, who ran golf legend
Nick Faldo's course design business for fifteen
years, chose the particularly apt start-date of
March 4th in order to 'march-forth' on his long
journey. After leaving Malin Head, he pitched up on
Tuesday at his first course, the Faldo-designed
Ballyliffin Golf Club, where he has been a member
for many years. He was cheered on at Glashedy by his
long-time friend, club manager John Farren and other
members. |
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Nick Edmund, right, founder of
GlobalGolf4Cancer, pictured at Malin Head at the
start of of his Wild Atlantic Way challenge, with
Ballyliffin Golf Club manager John Farren. |
He then walked on to
Buncrana to play the North West at Lisfannon on
Wednesday.
The Englishman will suspend his trek in high-summer
due to skin cancer concerns and hopes to complete
his brave mission in early November.
"It's the start of a walk that will ultimately take
me to the Old Head of Kinsale, a 2,000km-plus
journey around the west coast of Ireland on the
evocatively named Wild Atlantic Way," Nick said in
his blog.
"I will have a bag of clubs on my back and I'll be
calling into 40 golf clubs en route and playing just
their 4th hole. I know it's a slightly crazy, ok
make that very crazy, thing for a 56 year-old to do
- especially one who had a hip replacement operation
as recently as the 5th December and who hasn't done
much walking before,” he added.
"Am I anxious? For sure. Physically ready? Not
exactly. But with 'Godspeed' ringing in my ears, I'm
going for it," he added. To follow Nick's journey
visit
www.twitter.com . |
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