Junior does his bit for DEBRA Ireland
Christy O’Connor Jnr with Woodbrook’s Catherine Doyle, Mary Joe Byrne, Heather Argue and Denise Murphy at the Christy O’Connor Jnr outing in aid of DEBRA Ireland. Christy O’Connor Jnr was driving again this week but in this case it was also a charity drive for a great cause.
The Ryder Cup hero lived up to his promise to do his bit for DEBRA Ireland, a national charity established in 1988 to provide patient support services and to drive research into treatments and cures for those living with the genetic skin condition, Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB).
Christy O’Connor Jnr and DEBRA Ireland patient Ambassador Emma Fogarty. The action took place at Woodbrook on Monday with Junior and 38 teams in action and Emma Fogarty, Patient Ambassador for DEBRA Ireland, on hand to help with the prize-giving.
Emma lives with Epidermolysis Bullosa which means that her skin will blister or tear at the slightest touch.
Although she spends her life in constant pain she still took time to work with Christy on this event. As the day was so successful, Christy has promised to work her even harder at next year’s event.
According to DEBRA Ireland, patients who have EB, have skin that is as delicate and fragile as the wings of a butterfly, and just as easily damaged.
EB has been described by a Consultant Dermatologist in Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital as “easily the most debilitating and devastating disease I have ever seen.”
The condition is extremely painful and leads to disability and deformity. Many atients who survive childhood face the frightening reality that they could develop a very aggressive form of skin cancer, due to the constant breakdown of their skin.
DEBRA Ireland also funds specific research programmes in Ireland, the UK and the USA into wound healing, skin cancer in EB patients and gene therapy, in the hope of finding effective treatments and ultimately a cure for EB.
Prize winners at Woodbrook
- Men’s Longest Drive: Diarmuid Dawson
- Women’s Longest Drive: Michelle Crummy
- On the Green: Paul Morris
Overall Winners
- Dennis Markey, Pat Barry, John Coleman, Brian Brown
- Shive Gaveam, Alan Short, Michelle Crummy, Geraldine Murphy
- David Lavin, Eamon Darcy, Bernard Gibbons, Troy Lavin
- Catherine Doyle, Mary Joe Byrne, Heather Argue, Denise Murphy (Woodbrook Players)
- Michael Cantrell, Tom Pitt, Ronny Fitzell, Michael O’Kane (Woodbrook Players)