Family and Friends of Valerie Murphy come together to raise funds for charities in her honour

Valerie Murphy (pictured centre) is being honoured by her friends and family as they raise funds to support charities in Great Limerick Run

Family and friends of Valerie Murphy are coming together to raise funds for charities by undertaking the Great Limerick Run in her honour as “Val’s Pals”

by I Love Limerick correspondent Cian Reinhardt

A Go Fund Me page in honour of an “incredible” Limerick woman, the late Valerie Murphy, has been set up by her family and friends to raise money for two charities by undertaking the Great Limerick Run this April 29.

Family and friends hope to raise money for The Irish Kidney Association and Down Syndrome Limerick by undertaking the Great Limerick Run to in Valerie’s memory.

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“Valerie touched the lives of so many people in her sphere. She also drew friends to her wherever she encountered them and we have been so very privileged to have shared countless amazing times, fond memories and great, great fun with her,” The GoFundMe page set up in her honour reads.

A beloved member of her community, Valerie Murphy’s kindness, generosity, and spirit touched the lives of so many people. She had the ability to make friends wherever she went and brought joy and laughter to all those around her.

Speaking to I Love Limerick, Karen Ronan who met Val while at school together, described her as one of “the most inclusive, funny, kind and caring individuals I have come across in my life”.

“She was absolutely revered by everybody she met in her professional career that spans companies like KPMG, Perrigo, Bewley’s, The Icon, and among her friends. To say that she has left a legacy of friendship behind is absolutely the case.”

Karen explained how Val’s school and university friends groups have expanded into “an ever-large friendship group which is made up of people who worked in all those companies with Valerie, so we’ve become one big family of friends as a result of having a part of Valerie’s life, and that’s the type of person she was.”

Valerie Murphy’s friends say she “had a real love” for Limerick and loved coming home on weekends to spend time with friends and family being a “social butterfly being out and about”.

“She was such a family-person. Her mam Marie and dad Eamonn, her brother Frank, sister Marese, Lisa, and Brona were her absolute life as were her nieces and nephews, and she just idolised her family.”

Valerie’s friends said, “She would probably laugh at the fact that we are all running, walking, and crawling the Great Limerick Run in her honour, but she would be really proud of the fact that we’ve chosen two charities that were really close to her heart; Down Syndrome Limerick and The Irish Kidney Association.”

Down Syndrome Limerick is a community of children and adults with Down Syndrome and their families. The charity is run by parents on a voluntary basis and has therapists and teachers that provide the services people need. Down Syndrome Limerick describe themselves as “a team and we work together to make a difference to the lives of our children”.

The Irish Kidney Association is a charitable voluntary organisation founded in 1978 dedicated to meeting the needs of renal patients and their families and carers, living with and affected by end-stage renal disease. These needs are spread across all aspects of life – medical, social and psychological.

Every donation to these two great causes will help and those raising funds have extended their thanks and gratitude to those who contribute to the fundraiser.

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Read more fundraising stories here.