Kildare boxer Eric Donovan joined Off The Ball moments after completing his five-hour skipping challenge as part of the 'Do it for Dan' campaign.
He set the target of raising €5,000 for the cause - but having smashed that goal, he's now hoping to take in €10,000 through his GoFundMe campaign.
Hi folks, I'm humbly asking for everyone's support here, Dan needs all our help. Please get behind me & help me to reach this €5,000 target. The link to donate is below. Thank you all so much! 🙏 #doitforDan https://t.co/FETvKCY0NR pic.twitter.com/6xknxNTdUt
— Eric Lilywhite Lightning Donovan (@ericdonovanbox) April 16, 2020
'Do it for Dan' has been set up to support Dan Donoher, the 14-month-old son of former Laois county footballers Niall and Aisling Donoher, who has been diagnosed with a rare genetic neuromuscular disease called Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) Type 1 and Scoliosis.
With a life expectancy of a SMA type 1 child standing at 18 t0 24 months, there is now a ground-breaking infusion treatment called Zolgensma which can improve the quality of life and survival-rate of the disease.
It costs roughly €2m and is only available in the United States. To date, almost €1.8m has been raised.
Skipping Challenge: Do it for Dan
Speaking to Off The Ball, Donovan revealed that while we often see images of boxers skipping, it's only done in short bursts.
Before committing to five hours, he'd never skipped for more than 10 minutes without a break.
INPHO/Oisin KeniryTo prep for the challenge, he started to do some longer training sessions.
This backfired, as during the challenge he felt the effects of working his legs earlier in training.
He told OTB that he felt a 'pop' 20 minutes into his skipping this afternoon.
“I was able to just kind of mentally park it,” he reflected.
“It was just really mentally tough and physically tough," the boxer added.
The Kildare-man has been blown away by the support shown to the Do it for Dan campaign:
“People are extraordinary, there are ordinary people doing extraordinary things for this campaign... It brings it back to basics for people … looking out for each."
Eric is also taking part in a Roar for Ruairi fundraiser - for a family who need to raise €150,000 to make necessary renovations to their home and to help with ongoing home care costs for their son, who has a very rare degenerative and life-limiting neurological condition.
The champ told OTB that he writes poetry as a hobby and will publically read his work for the first time as part of an online concert for the cause.
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