By the way, apropos of nothing, I thought I would mention a new book that would be a great stocking filler/gift. Why, cause one of my aunts features in it. I have alluded to my talented family of artists etc. but that is only the half of it. The women in my family are to say the least extraordinary. There are too many stories to bore you with but this one in particular refers to my aunt Claire Power. Now, she likes to walk the hills around wicklow but she is no serious mountaineer. If fact I was aware vaguely that she was doing a walk for charity earlier this year and as I was leaving my mum’s cottage one day I asked over my shoulder “where’s Claire doing the walk?” Mount Kilimanjaro my Mum replied. In fact it turns out she was the oldest woman to climb Mount Kilimanjaro without oxygen ever!
Now that in itself is pretty amazing but on her return she decided to visit her doctor. The reason, she said, was that when she reached the summit her legs gave out. Ok, so if I ever reached the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro, in my late 60’s, without oxygen, I think I’d forgive myself some wobbly knees but not this woman. It turned out she had bowel cancer. You will not be surprised to hear that she is winning the fight against that particular challenge too and with good grace and humor.
Anyway the book is Give Me Irish Heroes: 15 Reasons to be Happy
It's by Ian McKeever and it’s in bookshops now.
No comments:
Post a Comment