Today is set to be a special day at Beat as we are getting behind a wonderful cause.
Waterford girl Cora Griffin would have turned 18 on May 1st this year, but sadly she passed away on December 27th, 2017, when she suffered a massive cardiac event that ended her life suddenly.
Every year since to mark Cora’s birthday, her family has organised a fundraising swim to raise money for charity. This weekend Waterford-based charity Touching Hearts will celebrate Cora’s life and have asked us to join the party with the aim of raising €18,000 in Cora’s name, which will go towards relocating services for Children with additional and complex needs.
All day today, on air and online we are going to shout about this special fundraising event in the best way we can… by giving our presenters a series of ‘18’ themed challenges! Expect lots of laughs all in aid of an amazing girl and a wonderful cause.
We kicked it off this morning on Beat Breakfast and Shonagh read out this letter from Cora’s mum…
Swim For Cora 2021
“We never knew what unconditional love was until the 1st May 2003 when I first held our beautiful daughter Cora, from that moment on she was everything to us, until the 8th September 2006 when our amazing son Thomas was born followed in 2010 by our fun loving Dara who made our family complete.
We were just a normal family living the best life we could, enjoying our Sunday spins and making the best memories ever. Little did we think that is all we would be left with…. memories.
When I look back on those memories of our beautiful, kind, funny girl inside and out who was always so caring, she doted on her two brothers and she was our world.
She loved shopping, swimming make up like any other teenage girl and enjoyed going to our local Harney’s to meet up with her friends. We were always blessed to have Cora and we appreciate every moment now we had together. Anybody that knew us would never see Cora without her Dad or me (my best friend).
It was the festive season of 2017, we loved Christmas as a family, we were happy picking up all the Christmas bits and bobs, getting the house ready which was Cora’s favorite time of the year. She loved the Christmas spirit and Christmas day arrived, Santa came to Cora and the boys and we all went to bed happy.
Then our nightmare began and never ended. During the night Cora suffered a cardiac arrest caused by Influenza B and sadly passed away and even though I am writing this I still haven’t come to terms with it.
I have heard the saying that nobody promises tomorrow so if you are listening to this don’t take life for granted live your best life and have no regrets, and even though we will never get over the loss of our beautiful daughter Cora every step we take since the loss of Cora we take for her now.
It is important for us to keep Cora’s memory alive as even though she is not physically here she will always be a major part of our life.
There are no words to describe how we feel. Every year since the loss of Cora we had a swim to mark her Birthday on the 1st of May and we raise money for different Charities in her honor. This year she would be turning 18 and the charity we decided to support is touching hearts. If you are free or around Annestown on the May bank Holiday weekend, take a dip and think of Cora, smile under the arch and make a memory with your loved ones.”
'18' Themed Challenges.
This morning, we challenged Shonagh and Vinny in their '18' themed challenge.
We challenged @ShoLyons and @VincentBradley to put 18 Maltesers in their mouth. Ed Sheeran’s record of 55 is safe! All for an amazing cause - Memorial Swim For Cora Griffin ❤️ pic.twitter.com/EMVN1GQ6Nr
— Beat 102 103 (@beat102103) April 30, 2021
Beat at Work's Dave Cronin was put to the test when he had to put on 18 items of clothing LIVE on air!
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Next up was our own David Hammond of Beat's Big Lunch, he was tasked with 18 'Keepie Uppies'.
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We can't forget The Top 7 @ 7's Debbie Ridgard, check out her rendition of an ABBA classic, where she had to ring a friend and sing for 18 seconds straight!
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