Colin Farrell will be running the Dublin Marathon on Oct. 27, and he’s doing it for a good cause.
The 48-year-old Irish actor, who plays Penguin in “The Batman” and “The Penguin,” is running to raise awareness and money for Debra Ireland, a nonprofit supporting epidermolysis bullosa (EB) patients.
He was inspired by his good friend, Emma Fogarty, who was diagnosed with the rare skin condition just a few weeks after she was born. The two have already raised nearly $640,000 for the nonprofit.
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Farrell and Fogarty met around 16 years ago at a charity dinner for Debra Ireland.
“It was two or three emails a year, and it got more and more and more, and I supposed I started to trust him more, and with that he started to trust me more,” she said in an interview with Today.
Their friendship will grow a little stronger this weekend when Farrell runs 26.2 miles in honor of her miracle 40th birthday, which she celebrated earlier this year.
He even agreed to push Fogarty in her wheelchair for the final four kilometers (about 2.5 miles) of the race, one kilometer for each decade she has lived with the condition.
“She’s my excuse to slow down for the last two and a half miles,” he said during a Sept. 19 appearance on “Late Night with Seth Meyers.”
Farrell taking extra precautions to ensure Fogarty’s safety
While talking to Seth Meyers, Farrell explained about his decision to run the race and some of the precuations he needs to take to ensure Fogarty is safe.
“Nobody can knock into her,” he said on the show. “She said to me, ‘We can’t be running over speed ramps on the streets of Dublin.’ With her skin, it’ll kill her.”
In an effort to minimize the risk, Farrell and Fogarty will be surrounded by support runners. They’ve also been practicing for the big day, albeit separately.
“He’ll have to figure out how to push the chair and how fast (we) can go,” Fogarty said. “I don’t need runners. I can be in style.”
Luckily, Farrell has experience with these types of things. His 21-year-old son, James Padraig Farrell, was diagnosed with Angelman syndrome when he was just two years old.
In addition to taking her wheelchair outside as much as possible, Fogarty has also been preparing for the inevitable pain she’ll endure while being pushed.
“That’s my challenge, to undertake the pain threshold,” she says. “I am willing to take that on.”
What is epidermolysis bullosa?
Epidermolysis bullosa (EB) is a rare genetic skin condition that causes the skin to become very fragile and blister easily, according to the American Academy of Dermatology Association.
According to Farrell, “literally 80%” of Fogarty’s body is an open wound. “She shouldn’t have lived,” he said to Seth Meyers.
EB affects roughly one out of every 50,000 people. Fogarty is currently the oldest living person with the disease in Ireland, and one of the loudest spokespersons for the condition.
She hopes to raise awareness for other families going through a similar diagnosis, especially since her family had very little information on how to raise a child with EB.
“My family was basically on their own,” Fogarty says. “It was like figure it out … and that was how we started life.”
Her parents went to great lengths to keep her safe, including lining her stroller with sheepskin to prevent wounds from cracking open and finding new ways to feed her since drinking from a bottle caused blisters on her tongue.
She hopes her family’s experience with the disease can help make another family’s life a little bit easier.
“I wanted to give hope to other families who live with EB,” she says. “Yes, I’ve lived a really long difficult 40 years, but I’ve done it.”
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As for Farrell, she feels extremely lucky to have a friend like him in her life. “It was just amazing to see him talk about me so openly and happily on so many TV programs,” she said to Today.