{"id":143854,"date":"2025-11-17T03:02:13","date_gmt":"2025-11-17T03:02:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/143854\/"},"modified":"2025-11-17T03:02:13","modified_gmt":"2025-11-17T03:02:13","slug":"mother-says-camino-de-santiago-walk-had-life-changing-impact-on-her-after-daughters-suicide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/143854\/","title":{"rendered":"Mother says Camino de Santiago walk had life-changing impact on her after daughter\u2019s suicide"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tracey Monaghan, whose daughter Toni Marie Kenny (17) died two years ago next month, said the week-long pilgrimage in Spain gave her the chance to talk about her daughter and remember her openly.<\/p>\n

Organised by all-island bereavement support group Anam Cara, she was among a group which took on the Camino de Santiago challenge last month.<\/p>\n

\"Toni<\/p>\n

Toni Marie Kenny died just days before Christmas 2023 (Barry Monaghan\/PA)<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople will often run a mile from your grief. You are very much alone and people will avoid conversations at all costs,\u201d said Ms Monaghan, who is from Mullingar in Co Westmeath.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was the first time for me to go somewhere by myself. I met complete strangers and felt like my spirit was lifted.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou could tell your story and you listened to other stories. We talked the world out of it and even though I was anxious about going, when you heard the stories, you realised you weren\u2019t alone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Toni Marie, who was in her Leaving Cert year, died just days before Christmas in 2023.<\/p>\n

While her daughter struggled with anxiety and anorexia, Ms Monaghan said Toni Marie had been in good form and was discussing plans to work on a cruise ship.<\/p>\n

However, it was only later that she realised those plans were to distract her.<\/p>\n

Despite Toni Marie\u2019s mental health struggles, her mother says they were extremely close and her daughter was fiercely independent.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you lose a child, you want the whole world to close.<\/p>\n

The Camino isn\u2019t just a trek; it\u2019s a moving community where people find strength in one another and moments of lightness in even the heaviest grief<\/p>\n

\"Tracey<\/p>\n

Tracey Monaghan, (centre), with her daughter Toni Marie Kenny and son Michael (Tracey Monaghan\/PA)<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m so glad I did the Camino. What I would say to other parents is you need to do something for you, you need the time.<\/p>\n

\u201cThings have changed in a lot of ways for me. You hear about the Camino and it\u2019s one step at a time.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone has their own grief, their own story. Go outside your comfort zone \u2013 it does change your perspective and there\u2019s a sense of achievement at the end.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anam Cara, which aims to create a society where no bereaved parent has to grieve alone, is inviting other parents who have lost children to walk the Camino with it next year.<\/p>\n

Chief executive Michelle Reynolds said the charity is there to offer information, resources, practical advice and peer support sessions for parents after bereavement.<\/p>\n

The Camino, she said, offers a rare opportunity to step away from daily life, to walk alongside others who understand and to find moments of peace and hope.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Camino isn\u2019t just a trek; it\u2019s a moving community where people find strength in one another and moments of lightness in even the heaviest grief\u201d, she said.<\/p>\n

If you have been affected by issues raised in this article, call Samaritans free on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.ie; or call Pieta on Freephone 1800 247 247 or text HELP to 51444<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tracey Monaghan, whose daughter Toni Marie Kenny (17) died two years ago next month, said the week-long pilgrimage…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":143855,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[93,61,60,2846],"class_list":["post-143854","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-spain"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143854","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=143854"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143854\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/143855"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=143854"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=143854"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=143854"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}