Family of Shane Lawlor 'overwhelmed' by Longford's support during memorial walk

The family of Shane Lawlor, who organised a memorial walk last Sunday in aid of the Ballinamuck Drumlish First Responders, said they are 'overwhelmed' by the support they received.

The fundraiser had amassed €14,000 by Monday night, nearly tripling the initial fundraising target.

PICTURES: Hundreds converge on Longford for poignant Shane Lawlor Memorial Walk

Hundreds of people attended the event last Sunday, August 10 and completed the 6km route, which started and finished at Monaduff GAA Club where there is a memorial bench for Shane.

The popular 44 year-old, a married dad of two, passed away unexpectedly on February 15 last after he suffered a cardiac arrest while out for a run with his wife Orla in their local village.

Orla has praised the generosity of people who donated with the total amount collected on Monday night standing at nearly €12,000 in online donations and €2,000 from the bucket collection on the day of the walk. "There were literally people from all over the country who used to work with him.

"Shane worked in Hewlett Packard up in Leixlip, he worked in Cardinal House in Tullamore and in Abbott and there were people from all of those companies there, Orla, who heard one estimate that up to 500 people attended, said.

"Then of course there were friends and family from everywhere."

Orla stated they were very grateful as a family for the way the first responders came to Shane's assistance and the way they tried to help him and they wanted to do something to express their thanks.

"When Shane died, the first responders were on the scene for a while before the ambulance actually got there.

"They were so good to us, not just on that day but in the weeks and months afterwards in terms of getting us more detail through the area, answering questions we had and everything like that so we said we'd pay them back sometime.

"The kids in particular, they wanted to do something in memory of Shane and we just came up with the idea of this walk and that we do it as a way to raise money for the first responders, just as a thank you for all they've done for us."

Orla said chair Paddy Howe of the Ballinamuck Drumlish First Responders group had been in touch to say they were absolutely blown away by the amount that was raised and people of all ages who participated.

"It was a lovely atmosphere and we had people pushing, there were young babies in buggies, there were kids on scooters, there was my son Cian and a load of his mates, teenagers were running along kind of together. "

Orla said Shane's father Pat did a portion of the route and his mother Mary attended, while some of Shane's aunts and uncles and some of Orla's aunts and uncles walked along the route.

Orla stated her and Shane's wedding anniversary was 24-hours after the memorial walk last Monday, August 11 and the fundraiser had given her and their children Cian and Niamh a boost.

"It did, it definitely gave us all a bit of a lift," she said.

"I think the way everything went so well [on Sunday], made Monday a little bit easier."

Orla said since the story was first shared there have been new first responders groups set up in various places and she is very pleased by that development.

"One of Shane's friends set up a first responders group in Carrick based on what happened to Shane.

"And then there was also several Gaelic and soccer clubs in Longford and actually in other counties as well.

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"I'm from Dublin and I was told similar stories that people all went and checked their defibs."

If anyone would like to donate they can logon to: https://www.idonate.ie/crowd funder/OrlaLawlor