Boy to walk Camino in aid of hospice care

A young Irish boy is getting ready to walk hundreds of kilometres across Spain to raise funds for those most vulnerable in our society.

Eight-year-old Christopher Nugent is walking 300km from the city of Leon to Santiago de Compostela in the hope of raising funds for hospice care across Ireland, after having walked 200km to the region last year.

Speaking to The Irish Catholic, his father Robert Nugent said that he had been walking the Camino for a number of years and that Christopher decided to join him on the venture last year, with the aim of raising awareness for hospice care in Ireland and in particular their local North West Hospice near Ballina.

“I suppose the current trend in Ireland is that the young and the old are disposable, you know, ‘out of sight, out of mind’,” Robert explained, adding that in light of the current “push” for the legalisation of euthanasia in Ireland, we should be doing “better” for people in our society.

Robert also said that parents should be good role models for their children, and that his son Christopher “loves” walking but that it’s important its borne out of his own desire to do it rather than being forced upon him.

“Anyone that knew about it thought it was great…a lot of parents were saying ‘I wish I was doing that with my kids’ and others were saying ‘my children would never walk it’.

“It’s not an initiative I’m driving, he wants to do the walk and I want to do the fundraising,” Robert explained, noting that he’d like to make a “difference”.

Having climbed Croagh Patrick numerous times and ventured on “lots” of hikes across Poland, Robert says that his son is looking forward to the long walk in the coming weeks.

To donate to this cause, see: https://give.everydayhero.com/ie/father-son-camino-de-santiago