Last week Mikey Phelan received a hero’s welcome from family, friends and supporters as he rolled into Dungarvan, completing an epic journey that fulfilled the Guinness World Records for cycling around the world, which means Mikey had to cycle at least 29,000 km and cross two points at opposite sides of the globe.
Cycle for Owen has now raised €37,777 for St Johns Special School in Dungarvan.
Back in July, The Munster Express spoke to Mikey when he was in Canada, closing in on the final stages of his adventure. This week we caught up with Mikey again following his hero’s welcome and a well-deserved weekend of celebrations.
“I went for a couple of polite ones, of course,” he laughs.
He said the homecoming was organised by St. John’s Special School.
“They pulled out all the stops. They had the Black Sheep bikers and St John’s buses gave me an escort in, along with my family and friends. The whole St John’s community were there to see me home.
“I’ve had so many messages and videos. The important part is St Johns. The sensory garden is nearly built, which is marvellous. I’m looking forward to seeing it in the next few weeks.”
How do you feel about it all, now that you are back in familiar surroundings?
“I’m quite happy now to be back,” said Mikey. “I was gone for so long, away from so many things for so long it is just nice to be at home and meet friends and family again.
“Even just to have time to catch my breath. The last two weeks or so were 15 days in a row of cycling, and all the social media bits, so I am happy to just take a breather. I really enjoyed the weekend. It was nice to just take stock of all the lovely things that were done for the homecoming.”
Would you worry that normal life will seem boring?
“To be honest I’m looking forward to boring for the next while anyway. The itchy feet are not very itchy anymore. The grass is always greener on the other side and all, but it is nice to be at home. You end up missing so many events, like weddings, and important moments that you don’t really consider when you are living at home. It’s only when you’re abroad that you realise how many things you do miss.
“I’ll enjoy the everydayness of living at home now.”
Was the last leg of your journey sad in a way, or did you just want to get it done?
“I’d say it was intense to be honest. Just trying to get back in time to get to the ferry when there was a homecoming planned for the Saturday. It was fairly tight. It was intense and emotional because you are trying to get every minute out of every day and then you are getting all these messages of support from people at home and from the St John’s community as well, who sent on so many nice videos,” he said.
“There were some tough days in the last week especially, but then you get a video from the special school giving you their best support and singing songs and my God you’d be so pent up with getting the distance done, but things like that will make you sit back and reflect, and remember where all the money you’re fundraising is going to. It takes away your own problems then.”
You say the last few days were hard, had you body started to break down at that point?
“I wouldn’t say broke down. It’s a thing of so near yet so far. I had a wind against me the whole time and I had bike issues as well. Even though you know that you are so close, it felt like you’re not making any progress. Even though you are so close to a big homecoming, you’re still solo, like the last 17 months you’re still trying to cycle your 120 or 130 km a day, there’s a big homecoming and you don’t want to mess it up.
“Then there’s the emotional side of it. You’re coming to an end of such a big chapter in my life, and in my family’s life. As my Dad said I set off only five months after Oweny passed away, and he said this has really brought us all further down the line in that process of grief. I suppose it made that journey just a little bit easier, that 17 months later everyone is a bit further down the line where we look back at fonder memories, some of the sadder ones have gone away. I’m looking back at my different interactions with Oweny on the trip, and when Oweny was alive, so it is intense.
“It was a journey and an adventure.”
Did your round the world cycle help your family look at the situation differently?
“I suppose before this was a fundraiser for St John’s it was in memory of Owen. So always at the heart of it was Cycle for Owen. It was always for Oweny, I never really wanted my name on it. So, I guess at different times along the way we’re looking at connections to Oweny, like on the remote stretches along the journey just how connected to Oweny I would have been.
“It was remarkable through the whole trip I never got injured, never got hurt, there was probably some kind of guiding hand to the whole thing. I got back home safe. I never crashed. Nothing bad really happened. There were hairy moments, but there was like a guiding presence, a compass I called it, guiding me home.”
Would you say grief drove you into this journey?
“I wouldn’t have called it grief at the start, but now looking back it probably was dealing with that grief. It’s a funny word. But that is what it was, whatever you call it. Dealing with the loss of Oweny.
“It has been a journey and there shouldn’t be a stigma on the word. That is what I was going through.”
Has the journey changed you?
“I think so. I probably don’t realise what really has changed. You might get an idea here and there just in interactions with different people but it probably is a better question to ask other people. Like, when I come back here, I can see the things that have changed, the way people are different. When you’re around the change, like I have been for so long, you probably don’t recognise what has changed within me.
“I would say I am definitely more independent in myself, more confident, I know what I want or don’t want. I’m more familiar with myself after spending 500 days with my own thoughts. In a general sense people probably recognise how I’ve changed.
“I can’t say I feel like I am a totally different person. I feel like my relationship with Oweny is a bit more positive, the sad thoughts that I left with, you forget some of the worse thoughts and the worst things leading up to his passing and you remember the good ones, the good pictures the good videos. I have moved on in that timeline.”
OWEN PHELAN
All of this was done in memory of Owen Phelan. Speaking to The Munster Express back in July, Micheál, Owen’s father, explained who Owen Phelan was, saying “Owen Phelan, from Cappagh, Dungarvan – the sixth of six boys, was born in the year 2000 with a demyelination disorder – a one in three million condition”.
“Initially, he was able to stand and walk with something to hold on to, but as his condition progressed, he was confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life of 24 years. He also suffered from a significant curvature of the spine, which progressed as he grew, which eventually led to lung and associated problems.
“He attended Modeligo NS, St. John’s Special School and finally Carriglea and Anne LeRoy in Dungarvan. He had the time of his life in each where he was showered with love and affection from everyone. He returned that love in spades with smiles, good humour and fun. He loved being happy and thereby made those around him feel happy as well. It was his special gift!” said Micheál.
“He loved the GAA and his local club in Ballinameela where his brothers played. Going to see their matches was the highlight of his week, especially if they won and his brother scored. He had the great honour of being recognised as the club’s supporter of the year in 2018. His other big interest was the weather and weather forecasting and he enjoyed a big day to the RTÉ Studios where Joanna Donnelly treated him to a tour of the studio where he got to operate the clicker and see himself up on the big screen.
“Owen possessed a huge sense of personality and determination – his path was anything but easy but he bore his cross with grace and acceptance. Only once ever did he ask ‘Why can’t I walk?’ He was a lesson to us all in that respect.
“If there is one thing that we could choose to remember Owen for, it would be simply his love of fun and adventure – having the craic. He had some wonderful experiences outside of the family, being brought to Lourdes by the Irish Pilgrimage Trust, to Disneyland Paris by the Cork City Hospitals Children’s Club and Fota Island with St John’s school.
“In a message for his 21st birthday, a special friend summed up the essence of Owen when he said: ‘Owen, in a family of teachers, you are the greatest teacher of them all. You inspire us. You teach us patience, acceptance, understanding. With a beautiful smile that lights up a room when you come into it, you make other people happy just by being happy yourself’.
“What a privilege it was for us to have Owen as a member of our family,” Micheál added.
AARON KENT Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme
