Keith Duffy will be spending this Father’s Day in France away from his kids but he plans to make up for it when he returns next Tuesday.
The Boyzone star is disappointed that he won’t be able to spend the day with his children, Jay and Mia, but his absence is all in aid of a good cause.
Keith is cycling through France as part of the Limerick to Lourdes Cycle 2016 in aid of Cliona’s Foundation, to raise much needed funds for critically ill children.
The musician’s youngest child Mia, knew he’d be away for Father’s Day, so the talented 16-year-old made him an early Father’s Day card.
He exclusively told VIP: “There wasn’t a dry eye in the house when she gave it to me, she’s so amazing!”
The singer was so touched by the thoughtful card he took to Twitter sharing a picture of the card captioning it, “As I’m away on FD Cycling from Nantes to Lourdes with @ClionasFDN I got an early FD card from my Daughter Mia Loveya.”
Unfortunately, Keith doesn’t finish the cycle until Sunday afternoon in Lourdes and there isn’t another flight home to Dublin until Tuesday. But Keith says he’ll definitely make up for lost time when he’s home.
He told us:”Although I’m disappointed I won’t be home for celebrations on Sunday it’s all for a good cause, so we’ll just have to postpone celebrations until Tuesday!”
Cliona’s Foundation provides financial assistance to families in Ireland who have children undergoing long-term medical treatment for critical illness, the funds raised are used to pay for the hidden costs that family’s caring for critically ill children have to face each day. It was set up in 2007 after Terry and Brendan Ring’s daughter Cliona died from an inoperable brain tumour.
The singer explains why this charity is particularly close to his heart. “I met Terry and Brendan a while ago and hearing their story broke my heart. Their charity is doing such good work and I want to help them raise funds and raise national awareness for the charity.
“The government give very limited funding to families with critically ill children, so it’s important that Cliona’s Foundation, a charity which covers all the ‘hidden’ costs receives as much funding as possible.”
We take our hats off to Keith for raising awareness for such a worthy organisation and we hope he enjoys his belated Father’s Day celebrations on Tuesday!
If you’d like to donate €2 to Cliona’s Foundation, text Cliona to 50300.
