ELECTION: It’s tempting to have a ‘let’s not bother’ day but that would be foolish. We are still the people in charge and we should use our vote on Thursday, it’s a powerful thing and we should exercise that power.
Astronomers at Queen’s University, Belfast have played a key role in uncovering the largest cosmic explosion ever witnessed. The data shows that the explosion was nearly 100 times brighter than all the stars in our galaxy combined. An investigation, which was led by the University of Southampton, in collaboration with Queen’s, revealed an explosion which is more than 10 times brighter than any known exploding star, known as a supernova.
Well, this worried me, so I turned to Terry Moseley, Irish Astronomical Association, who put my mind at rest:
`”Such an event would be catastrophic for any planets orbiting the star, and would wipe out any advanced life on planets orbiting other stars within about 50 light years (LY). It would have serious effects for any life within about 100 LY. To give you an idea of scale, our Milky Way galaxy is about 100,000 LY across. There are no stars of the type which exploded, anywhere near the Sun (say within 200LY), and such events are very rare, so no need to worry! Take care, Terry “
Last week it was the spectacular Coronation and this week it’s been Eurovision both fantastic televisual events, hundreds of cameras and mics, graphics, script writers and direction plus all the technicians, special effects, production assistants and staff drawn in from all over the network. The staging and lighting was extraordinary and the nails horrible but the visuals relieved the boredom of a lot of the songs. When it all goes well we tend to forget behind the scenes, however it is without doubt those behind the scenes in London and in Liverpool who deserve the most praise for two extraordinary productions. The Swedish winner had a good song even though the first few bars were pure ABBA and she looked very strange and her finger extensions were weird. Mae came second from last for UK but it wasn’t a good performance many agree and she must be so disappointed. However, what’s another day!
MORE POWER TO YOUR ELBOW
Even the Coronation last weekend didn’t stop two local people working out, keeping fit is their aim and regaining confidence is ever present. Despite life threatening illness, Cathy McCourt and Richie Sheerin have remarkable stories to tell.
There was an Englishman, a Welshman and an Irishman from Derry and they are all heroes, gold medal winners at the 2023 World Transplant Games in Perth Australia.
“Five years ago I was diagnosed with Myeloma, a bone cancer and what began as an ordinary spring morning an otherwise fit man ended up in hospital having blood testes and eventually I was told my condition.” Richie explained: “I ran marathons and loved cycling but I was advised to stay off the bike and give up road riding in case I fell and got severe fractures. but my consultant didn’t say anything about cycling indoors!” And so Richie took to virtual reality but it wasn’t easy.
“I had a tandem bone marrow transplant. First my own stem cells and autologous transplant in 2019 then followed by an allogenic transplant in August 2020 using my brother Damian’s stem cells. Both included chemotherapy to kill off my existing bone marrow before transplantation.”
As he says a balancing act between relapses and positive times, however, despite doctors advice, he is convinced that cycling has been his mainstay. Using special software he connected his bike to a laptop and followed a programme on the screen, racing virtually round the world pitting his strength against top riders all from his own house where conditions were safer and he could stop when his body needed to rest. He calls this his Mental Medicine, a separate challenge in life, one which has paid off.
Thankfully, today he is in his longest remission yet and long may it last.
Despite the 21 hour flight to Australia, coping with jet lag and new surroundings, Richie has come home with a bronze medal in the time trials, a bronze in the road race and an impressive gold in the team time trial which the trio Richie, Nick Topley from Wales and Sean Rintoul from Liverpool, completed in under 2 minutes which isn’t quite a record but not far off.
Why does Richie put his body through such punishment? “I want people to know that there’s life after a cancer diagnosis and transplant, the importance of organ donation and to pay tribute to both the City Hospital and Altnagelvin Hospital and the staff who got me through. It’s true that cycling doesn’t get any easier but it does get faster and now that the better weather is coming in I’m out on the road again training for the British Transplant games in Coventry at the end of July.” Then comes the World games in Dresden Germany in 2025 so plenty to look forward to.
The World At Her Feet
It’s always inspiring to hear of local people who excel in their chosen pastime and running coach Cathy McCourt is no exception. Last month she took part in the world half marathon masters championship in Torun, Poland where she got a silver medal in the F50 10k road race but better still, she won the world half marathon and came home with a well deserved gold medal. This exceptional athlete overcame severe illness when she was struck down 12 months ago with a brain injury which threatened to end her running career and although she spent most of the year in hospital she worked hard rehabilitating back to health. It’s no surprise she has the determination to succeed, she comes from an extremely competitive household; when she won a silver in the same race last year and, although her dad was delighted he commented, ‘what happened to you?’. Being the legendary Irish boxer Jim McCourt, an Olympic medalist in Tokyo in 1964 and ranked Number One boxer in the world for five consecutive years, he wanted only the best and this year despite the odds, his daughter delivered.
“He was delighted and very proud.” Not surprising as Cathy was told that only 20% people make a recovery from a brain injury such as hers which started with an excruciating pain in her head, slurring her words and sickness but thankfully medication and help from her coach Sarah Haveron eventually brought her back to health.
“Last year was a complete disaster, in and out of hospital eight times, then collapsing and banging my head and tearing ligaments but eventually I was given the all clear last November. Then serious training started, building up strength in the gym in order to qualify for the championship. I felt like giving up lots of times but I’m like my Dad, keep going and keep achieving. Work hard and believe in yourself because dreams do come true.”
Cathy, who has competed at international level since she was school age, runs her own personal training and weight loss clinic in Lisburn and she’s determined to keep up her training regime, just like Ritchie she has her eye on the next golden challenge. Achieving at a sporting level is one thing but their fight against the odds and winning is quite another.
A lesson learned from two remarkable athletes.
