A Co Derry man today completed a 110km open water swim to celebrate and remember the lives of people who died by suicide.
Danny Quigley began the swim in Lifford in Co Donegal on Monday, swimming up the River Foyle and Lough Foyle to Kinnagoe Bay on the Inishowen peninsula and back to Derry.
A large crowd of friends and well-wishers, including Foyle MP Colum Eastwood, watched as he began the final leg of his journey at 2pm from a pontoon a few hundred metres from the city's Peace Bridge.
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
Supporters lined the bridge as he swam under and hundreds more were there to greet him when he finished at the headquarters of Foyle Search and Rescue at Prehen Boathouse.
Mr Quigley had spent 33 hours swimming in open water since setting off from Lifford.
There were loud cheers when he walked through a balloon arch and then took time to look at photographs of the 110 people who lost their lives through suicide and were nominated for the "celebration of life" swim.
Mr Quigley swam a kilometre for each.
"This is what it’s all about," he said.
"The whole celebration of life is about remembering anybody whose died through suicide for who they were, what they loved to do, their happy times, you know, rather than how they died.
"I had planned to swim 100 kilometres, but 110 people were nominated by their families so I increased it to 110, so I swam a kilometre for each of them."
The River Foyle is a tidal river and one of the fastest flowing in Europe.
Mr Quigley had to time his swimming to go with the tide, as swimming against it would be impossible.
At one point, as he approached Kinnagoe Bay, he had to tread water for 45 minutes as three currents converged and made it impossible to move forward.
"What he has done is absolutely amazing," said Stephen Twells, chair of Foyle Search and Rescue, which provided a safety boat throughout the journey.
"He is just a machine. This is incredibly hard, conditions are very tough, but he just kept going," Mr Twells said.
Mr Quigley said he was helped on the journey by music selected by relatives of those he was swimming for.
He said: "Whenever someone nominated a family member, they were asked to provide a song, a photograph of that person and the person's name.
"I got waterproof ear buds and was listening to music the whole swim, and the music was playing back the songs of all the people so it was, you know, it was a real lift for me, especially at nighttime and especially when it was really dark and scary.
"Having the music and stuff really, really helped sort of lift me and keep me going."
As well as raising awareness about suicide, Mr Quigley was also fundraising for Foyle Search and Rescue and the Bogside and Brandywell Health Forum, which helps young people dealing with grief.
The organisation helped Mr Quigley when his father, Colm, died by suicide in 2011.
"Money raised is used to provide intensive one-to-one counselling for people in the community," explained programme manager Aisling Hutton.
"People referred to us will be families who have lost a loved one and are trying to come to terms with grief, and they include people who have suffered grief through suicide.
"What Danny is doing today is really important as it raises awareness as well as helping to raise funds."
