A 12-year-old boy from Garrison, Co Fermanagh has raised over £1,600 for the Air Ambulance NI Charity by cycling around his locality over the month of March. Ryan Graham, a student at Enniskillen Royal Grammar School, set himself a 100-mile cycling challenge in aid of the Air Ambulance NI Charity. 

Unfortunately, Ryan and his family have a special connection to the helicopter emergency medical service following the sad passing of his cousin Neil Graham in 2018 after an agricultural accident which the Air Ambulance NI team attended.  Speaking about his virtual fundraising event, Ryan’s mum Wendy said, “It is such a vital service to have in Northern Ireland and especially to rural Fermanagh.”  

Ryan soon quickly surpassed his initial 100-mile goal and has since set a 183-mile target – the distance from Garrison to Lisburn, where the Air Ambulance NI base is, and back again! Up until the 31st March, Ryan has cycled 158 miles and raised £1,645 on his JustGiving page. Wendy said, “It’s so easy for people to donate and leave a message of support to Ryan via his page. He checks the messages and the total daily and has said that as long as people keep donating, he will keep pedalling!” 

As well as doing his fundraising challenge, Ryan has also signed up to become the 111th member of Junior Club AANI, a membership programme for people under the age of 18 to sign up to in the charity.  

Speaking about Ryan’s support, Damien McAnespie, Area Fundraising Manager for the charity said, “I want to thank Ryan and his family for supporting Air Ambulance NI not only in his cycling challenge but also signing up to be one of our treasured Junior Club AANI members. Since July 2017, the medical team have been tasked to over 2,054 calls of which 95 were to County Fermanagh – the team simply could not fly without support like this so thank you Ryan.”  

For more details as to how support Ryan’s fundraising challenge, please visit www.justgiving.com/fundraising/wendy-graham9