Family and friends of Poppy Ogle inspired to make marathon effort in memory of 10-year-old who died of rare form of cancer

Carina Loughran and her friend Cathy McCarten will take on the full 26.2 miles, while other family members and friends will be doing the relay in memory of Poppy Ogle who passed away aged 10 on May 26 after a brave battle with a very rare and aggressive form of sarcoma.

In the process the Powered By Poppy team are raising money for The Boom Foundation which specifically supports people in Northern Ireland affected by the disease.

Carina said: “Poppy is in my thoughts all the time when I’m running. All of the ones that are running in the marathon have a Whatsapp group and we post videos of us training, we’ll say how Poppy got us through this run.

"We’re not runners, that’s not to say we haven’t run, but nothing on this scale. When you’re finding it really hard you just think about Poppy and she pulls you along. She is what will get us over that line.

"Our pain is temporary, her pain wasn’t. It’s a very small thing we’re doing in the grand scheme of things to give back to the people who helped her.”

Poppy, a pupil at Cregagh Primary School in east Belfast, was diagnosed in January 2021 and went on to endure multiple surgeries and rounds of intensive chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

Carina said: “She had more hospital admissions than any one of us has had in a lifetime. Our hearts were and still are completely broken when she passed away.

"That’s why we’re raising the money specifically for The Boom Foundation to help people with sarcoma. There was no cure for Poppy’s condition. It could happen to anyone, to anyone’s child.”

Of her niece she said: “She was an animal lover. She was very intelligent, very witty. She loved the Girls Brigade, she loved school. She loved the colour yellow.

"She was all about helping other people. She brought in treats for the hospital ward she was in at the weekends. She also made fidget boxes for children in the ward to help them through treatment."

After Poppy died her family donated copies of the book ‘The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse’ to the ward as it had really helped them as a family during Poppy’s treatment.

Carina said: "Poppy was with us when we did the team relay at last year’s marathon to raise money for Angel Wishes – a charity which supported Poppy. She called one of the teams ‘Powered By Poppy’ and the other ‘Poppy’s Pace Cadets’.”

Less than a month after seeing her family and friends cross the finish line Poppy passed away.

It made her auntie determined to take on the full race: "I always said I would never do a marathon but because Poppy did one practically every day, me and my friend Cathy who is really close to Poppy’s family, we decided we’re going to do the full one this year.”

On Sunday, April 30 Poppy's family and friends will run in the Belfast Marathon to raise funds for The Boom Foundation in her memory.

Poppy’s father Mark is running one of the legs in the team relay and her mum Sharon is putting on a food and drinks reception for the runners after the event. Carina and Sharon’s sister Michelle is also running a leg.

Donations can be made at justgiving.com/fundraising/carina-loughran1