What do you do when you complete the City2Lake? Why, do it again, of course!
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Mark Enness was supposed to ride the 8 kilometre fun run with his fifteen-year-old daughter AJ Enness, who collapsed from a cardiac arrest in September and was airlifted to Westmead Children’s Hospital.
AJ was diagnosed with ‘long QT syndrome’ and was given an ‘internal cardioverter defibrillator’, similar to a pacemaker, which kicked in on Friday while she was playing soccer.
With his daughter unable to participate Mr Enness decided to complete the course twice, once for himself and once again for her.
Witnesses at the City2Lake reported seeing Mr Enness on his second go at the course encouraging other race-goers and lending them his support.
Mr Enness is competing in ‘Griffith’s Biggest Winner’ this year to raise money for Heart Kids NSW, a charity providing support and encouragement to families of children with heart disease. He aims to raise $10,000 towards helping another family who may one day also need a cable for their child's defibrillator.
In September Mr Enness performed life-saving CPR on his daughter. He said what happened to his daughter was an enormous reality check and he urged other parents to learn CPR.
Afterwards, Mr Enness said he felt as though he had to do something to help.
“If I didn’t know CPR I wouldn’t have my daughter today,” he said. “I always thought I would do anything for my kids, but then something like this happens and you are powerless – there was nothing I could do.”
Mr Enness will be holding a competition as part of his journey with Griffith’s Biggest Winner. For just two dollars you can enter a guess as to his final weight with the winner receiving half of the proceeds raised. The other half will go straight to Heart Kids NSW.
City2Lake chair Anne Napoli said she was humbled by the community’s efforts in the fun run.
“It was a fantastic day, there was a huge crowd and it was great to see the community work together for a project they believe in,” Councillor Napoli said.
To donate to Mark Enness’ fundraising go to https://doitforheartkidsnsw.everydayhero.com/au/mark#/
