Pink Balloons

Pink Balloons

By Angela Macari O’Looney

There is nothing as encouraging to make me get out and walk five kilometres on an autumn morning, as a cheerful group of People, the majority being women, gathered together for a common cause.

I arrived at the Pheonix Park having been driven there by my husband, and after ten to fifteen minutes walking along an enormous avenue, realised I must be going the wrong way.

A car stopped and a woman opened the window to ask did I know where the Marie Keating foundation Walk 4 Life event was taking place. I explained I was going there too, but was told it was only fifteen minutes from the Park Gates.

She asked would I like a lift, so I jumped into the already crowded Micra and we headed on.

Not much further, we discovered where all the action was. I was in plenty of time to register for my t-shirt. Joining a queue, I noticed everyone holding pink balloons and asked what they were for. A gentleman handing them out told me you took a balloon, wrote a name or names of loved ones who had died or were affected by Cancer, to be later released into the air in a gesture to honour their memory.

I put my t-shirt over the top I was wearing and wrote my sisters name ‘Rose’on the pink balloon. She is only one of many people I knew who lost the fight, however, I felt it to be a lovely idea that when the walk was declared officially open by the Lord Mayor of Dublin, we each had to do a count down and then let the balloons go.

My favourite radio station Q102 was there to mark the event and play lots of upbeat music. Also, The Lucan Gospel Choir performed some amazing songs from their repertoire to get the Walk 4 Life into full swing.

There was a fantastic buzz in the air and it was fun observing the vast variety of people, who were there to walk the 5k. This included families, groups of women, girls on their own like me and even the odd person walking their mutt, who was also dressed in his/her Walk for Life outfit! Balloons hung from buggies with babies in them and I just loved being there and being a part of it all!

A little after 10.30a.m., the Lord Mayor blew on a hunt style horn and there was a countdown of five, four, three, two one. We all let go our balloons and just like in the 99 Red Balloon song, hundreds of Pink balloons rose up into the Grey blue Dublin sky, like a mass of pink angels, disappearing over the tops of the trees. We set off from the start point and I felt a tiny pull on my heart strings as I watched my balloon fade with the others. Although I had come to the event alone, I found myself chatting with other people throughout the morning.

The beautiful scenery took my breath away and I felt alive. It got a little difficult after the second kilometre. However, water was available at stations along the route and it wasn’t long before the finish came into sight and with it, the sound of Q102 playing suitable music for a celebration.

I asked a girl from the radio station if I could get Rose’s favourite song played later that day. Usually they don’t take requests from their on-location kiosks. However, she asked me to write the details and she’d see what she could do.

I asked for my late sister’s favourite song which is Anne Murray’s ‘You needed me’. She promised it would be played after 1p.m. that afternoon.

It was a nice finale to a brilliant morning, and I got a goody bag full of Go Ahead biscuits and other treats from the sponsors of the Walk 4 Life.

It was my first time taking part, but definitely won’t be my last!