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“When things got tough throughout the journey, I just had Patrina’s voice in my head and I dug deep thinking about what she and other cancer patients go through,” he said, reflecting on one of the hardest but more rewarding challenges of his life.
It was during Patrina’s illness that Declan found an outlet in the form of endurance sports, setting him on a path to his 3,800-mile (6,115km) epic cycle across the US.
“I’ve always been a keen runner and love to cycle, and even when she was sick Patrina would give me the green light to go off to the Mourne mountains for the day,” he said.
“I just loved the serenity of running and cycling there and I suppose mentally it really helped me hold things together at the time.
“I’d remembered talking to Patrina about this idea I had in my head of going back to America and cycling coast to coast.
“Ten years had passed since she died and the kids have grown up, and I just thought wouldn’t it be great to see America on two wheels with the memory of Patrina on my shoulder along the way.”
