Covid-19 cycle is cheered on by Graham

INTENSIVE Care Unit (ICU) doctors, nurses and staff from all over Ireland are taking part in a charity cycle to Dublin next month in aid of four charities supporting people impacted by the Covid-19 crisis.

The ICU 4 U Charity Cycle aims to raise at least €100,000 for Alone, Breakthrough Cancer Research, Aware and ICUsteps (ICU patient aftercare support), and they’re halfway there.

Graham Norton, who launched the campaign said: ‘The entire nation is grateful to these incredible doctors and their teams who have been working tirelessly to keep our most vulnerable safe. But the modest bunch who have been putting their lives at risk throughout this pandemic say it’s just their job and I applaud them for leading the way in putting the public focus back on supporting charities who badly need funding.’

Champion Olympic rower Paul O’Donovan is also supporting the cycle.

The concept for next month’s cycle arose as ICU staff became embarrassed at being labelled ‘heroic’ and and wanted to turn the focus back on the patients.

Chief organiser Dr Patrick Seigne, Consultant Intensivist at Cork University Hospital ICU, said that they have just been doing their jobs albeit in challenging times.