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Irish Examiner
23-06-2025
- Health
- Irish Examiner
'It's been very healing': Cork man's 170km walk raises over €19k for parental bereavement charities
Content advisory: this article deals with infant loss and parental bereavement. Each of us has lost someone we've loved — and felt the impact of their presence, no matter how brief, continue to resonate. Last week, Cork man Finbarr Buttimer, honouring the life of his daughter Nóra, set out on a journey to raise funds for the organisations that provided he and his fiancée with critical support when it was needed most. Trekking the full 170 kilometres between Cork city and Dingle, Co Kerry, Buttimer initially sought to raise €2000 for parental bereavement charities Féileacáin and FirstLight. As of Monday morning, the support and solidarity he's received from the wider community has seen that figure reach nearly ten times that amount, as he continues to document his journey on Instagram. "This is a walk to Dingle for my daughter, Nóra, who sadly passed away six months ago," Buttimer told the Irish Examiner on Friday. "She was a healthy baby, but when she was born, there were complications around her birth, and sadly, 12 days later, she passed away. "Over that six month period, my fiancée Mae and I have had to rebuild our lives, and the two charities that I've decided to raise for played a huge role in that. "The first one is FirstLight. They're a long-running charity, involved in providing crisis intervention and grief counselling for bereaved parents, at any age or any stage of their grief or of their loss, and they were there to help us with that immediate support, which was vital. " Féileacáin, then, has been like our community. They're another parental bereavement group who help with advocacy, who help create things like memory boxes, for example. "We have some mementoes of Nóra at home that Féilecáin have put together - a lock of her hair, and other very nice pieces that we really cherish, and remind us of her. "They also run a very active five-a-side soccer group for dads, run tournaments around the country, and for me personally, they've been an amazing source of strength and community, because I feel less alone. I feel like I'm with people who understand what the experience is like whenever I'm playing with them. "They run other groups as well, like pregnancy after loss groups, and support groups for children and families who have lost [loved ones]. There are so many other charities and groups who are also involved in this space, like Bumbleance, Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep, and LauraLynn." Finbarr Buttimer, under the Shandon Bells as his walk from Cork to Dingle got underway last week. For Finbarr, choosing to excur to Dingle from his hometown of Cork City was a matter of fulfilling a personal wish for his daughter. "It's a place that I would have gone on holidays a lot as a child growing up, and it's a place that I always wanted to bring Nóra, so I'll bring her with me in spirit. "The reason I'm doing a walk is because I like to do these long-distance walks; in 2022 I did the Via Francigena, the Camino from Canterbury in England to Rome, I did that over three months, then in 2023, I walked from Cork to Rosslare to raise money for Simon Community and the Nasc migrant rights centre in Cork. "So it felt right that, in order to mark Father's Day, to mark six months since Nóra's passing, that we would hold this event. And the response has been absolutely amazing." It might not have been Finbarr's first long-distance walk, but any such undertaking brings with it a certain degree of preparation and training, and this journey has been no exception. "I learned a lot about walking in Ireland from the trip to Rosslare. Having lightweight gear is important, having good shoes is important, and not carrying too much food or water is actually an important thing. "But then the other thing, obviously, is this isn't a typical walking trail. I did, beforehand, have to do a lot [of prep], I had to look at a lot of maps. I had to look at what roads are quietest, what times would have been quietest. "Also, I've been camping the whole way, and so at the first night, for example, I was relying on the kindness of strangers to allow me to camp in some farmer's field or in a forest somewhere. "A lovely couple, and I would like to mention them, Fiona and Brian on the Butter Road. They let me camp in their garden, they said, 'look, it's no problem', and gave me tea and cakes and everything. "It was so generous of them to see this random man show up, for them to give me that shelter there for the night." Moving out from the city and into the countryside has brought with it its own set of considerations, but also, helped set a tone for the weekend legs of Finbarr's journey, and helped bring his focus to the purpose of his excursion. "Once you get outside of the city, there's a lot of industrial and farm traffic. Once I got past Tower and onto the Butter Road and beyond, it became quieter, and as I came up by Bailinagree, one or two cars would pass every hour, then roads would turn into boreens, and boreens would turn into boreens with the green strip down the middle. "Then it became really idyllic Irish countryside, where I could focus less on having to stay in on the side of the road with cars going past, and I could look up around the landscape. It was like the Boggeragh mountains and Millstreet, and the reeks in the distance, Claragh mountain. "I think because of the rain earlier in June and the sunshine now, there's a real lushness to the landscape, and a lot of the hedgerows are in bloom. It's just unbelievably idyllic, and it's been very healing. "From that point of view. It's kind-of like a green bath, or, I don't know what the term is... we're surrounded by nature, and you feel a real sense of peace about you. "It's just a whole different perspective on on Ireland, really, and on the landscape. And it makes me appreciate it a whole lot more. "All along the way, I'm thinking of Nóra. The word 'féileacáin' means 'butterflies' [in Irish], and in Irish mythology, butterflies represent the souls of relatives that have passed, who have come to visit and reassure you that everything's okay. "I'm always seeing butterflies, and robins remind me of her as well, and they're all along the road, so I feel that she's with me, and I know that she'll be with me going forward in the walk and beyond." Finbarr Buttimer is undertaking a walk from Cork to Dingle to raise funds for Féileacáin and FirstLight, following the passing of his daughter Nora. By his calculations, Finbarr's walk was set to conclude by Tuesday of this week, and along the way, support has ranged from friends and family, to the charities involved, to a wider community that has been following his updates online and reaching out to show support and solidarity. "The response has been absolutely incredible. I'm incredibly moved when I think about it, because we see in the donation page the amount that we've raised, just that in and of itself, shows that hundreds of people are thinking about Nóra, they're thinking about me and Mae, and they want to show us their support. "These are all people we would have loved her to see, and people are reaching out to her by giving, that just means the world to us that so many people are thinking of her because she deserves that. "Those two causes... when I was in Millstreet the other day, I was in touch with FirstLight, and if the fundraiser were to end then, and half of the money were to go to FirstLight then, I think it was something like fifteen families could be provided for, with crisis intervention and psychology support. "To know that through Nóra, we can do good in the world is an incredible feeling, and it honours her memory. As parents, that's what our duty is now, going forward, is to is to honour her, and I feel that with this amazing support, we've been able to do that." The Walk to Dingle for Nóra fundraising page is still open on GoFundMe, staying open until Monday June 30. All funds raised will go directly to Féileacáin and FirstLight, charities that provide assistance to bereaved parents. Follow the last few legs of Finbarr's journey, as well as post-walk fundraising updates, at his Instagram page: @finbarrformerlybaz Special thanks to Julia Healy for her assistance with this article.
Yahoo
06-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
News 19's Lauren Layton wins two ABBY awards for TV News Feature and TV Hard News!
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WHNT) — The WHNT News 19 crew took home some hardware from the 2025 Alabama Broadcasters Association Award Ceremony! In total, the News 19 crew won six awards. Evening Anchor Lauren Layton took home not one, but TWO ABBYS last night for her work! Lauren won Hard News Reporting for her reporting on the first Nitrogen Hypoxia Execution in the country and News Feature of the Year for 'Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep.' From everyone here at News 19, congratulations, and we are so proud of you! You want to watch either of those ABBY winning reports on the News 19 website linked below: Alabama convict becomes first known person executed by nitrogen hypoxia DISCLAIMER: This piece contains photographs of deceased children who have been posed to look as if they are sleeping. The families of these children have given News 19 permission to show their photos in hopes of reaching families who may one day find themselves with the option to use the services provided by Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep. News 19 Special Report: Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
13-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Where are they now? Remarkable Woman 2022 Jenny Williams
LONGVIEW, Texas (KTAL/KMSS) – Jennifer Williams dedicates her life to children. She's a wife, mother, foster mom and occupational therapist who helps children with sensory processing issues. She's a small business owner, running her own practice, Little Light Pediatric Therapy, in Longview, Texas. 'Jenny came into our life at the perfect time. She was a godsend,' said Michelle Painter, whose son Caleb is a client at Little Light Pediatric Therapy. 'We were really hopeless about how to deal with Caleb's processing disorder and he really lacked a lot of confidence. She improved his life so much and gave him hope and a purpose.' When we first met Jenny, she was a photographer for 'Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep.' ''Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep' is a volunteer organization that provides the gift of remembrance photography,' Jenny explained. 'We sometimes go into the NICU or labor and delivery. When an infant passes, we are there to step in and take those photos. I'm giving them a gift that they will treasure for the rest of their lives. It's such a blessing to me.' 'We're trained labor and delivery nurses so we can handle that aspect, but when it comes to someone losing a child, we don't always know what to say,' shared Rebecca Maroney, NICU nurse at CHRISTUS Good Shepherd Medical Center in Longview, Texas. Where are they now? Remarkable Woman 2020 Sharon Roberson Jones Jenny has helped with that, too. She founded the East Texas chapter of Hope Mommies, which is a Christian organization, providing care boxes for women who experience miscarriage, stillbirth, or infant loss. The boxes contain a variety of items, including a Bible, books, journal, pampering items, and information on support groups. Jenny is paying it forward because Hope Mommies was there when she needed comfort. 'Ella was our first child, our daughter. I lost her at 36 weeks. It was devastating. You feel so alone at that point. You have an empty car seat. Your arms are empty,' Jenny shared. 'A few days after being home from having her, a box showed up on my doorstep and it honestly changed my life.' Jennifer has taken a break from photography to spend more time with family and the East Texas chapter of Hope Mommies will soon close. However, Jenny still leaves boxes at the hospital. Her work with grieving mothers not only honors the daughter she lost, but also the older brother she never met. 'We lost our son, our first son. His name was Jacob. We lost him at 32 weeks,' explained Julie Hunt, Jenny's mother. Remarkable Women of the ArkLaTex Julie had also experienced infant loss. So, when it happened to her daughter, she understood the depth of her sorrow. 'You're not only grieving for your grandchild but you're also grieving for your child because you know how hard it's going to be,' Julie said.' In 1983 there were no resources. So, I didn't know a soul who had lost a child at that point. One of the things I read was you're never the same. You just learn how to carry on in a different way.' 'You feel less fragile as time goes on,' Jenny said. 'But I would never want it to be fully over because her life has shaped mine in ways that I can't even explain. She changed the trajectory of my life and what I do. Ella's life was purposed. It may have been a very short life, but it had a purpose. The purpose of that one small life was to help her mother touch the lives of thousands. Jenny spends much of her time advocating for children with special needs and their families. She is on the task force for the development of a children's garden at the Longview Arboretum and Nature Center. She is also a consultant for Room on Our Pew, which helps churches welcome children with disabilities. Jenny continues to support non-profit organizations in a new way, through her passion for running. She has run 5K and 10K races to benefit East Texas CASA, Special Olympics and Finn's Friends. Her goal is to run a half-marathon before her 40th birthday. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
