Micky taking on Liam Ball Triathlon after life-changing diagnosis

Micky Doherty will take on one of the biggest challenges of his life next month when he competes in the Liam Ball Triathlon for the very first time.

The local entertainer is known to thousands throughout the city, with his charisma and showmanship making him a Derry celebrity in his own right over the years. Be it singing, dancing or presenting, it would be fair to say that everyone in Derry knows Micky or has heard of him.

But his decision to take on a triathlon for the first time in his life is borne not from any desire for the spotlight, but for the desire to turn around a lifestyle that he felt had got out of control, a ‘manic’ lifestyle, which was compromising both his physical and mental health.

Last summer, Micky, knowing that something was badly wrong, sought help, and was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder, a moment which has changed his life completely, and for the better.

“During the summer I had been very sick,” he recalled. “I kept on falling and I was injuring myself and I didn’t know what it was so I went for scans. I also went to the mental health nurse and they referred me to Old Bridge House and I went through all the tests and I then got the diagnosis. I was diagnosed with ASD – Autism Spectrum Disorder and my condition was Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder with Dyspraxia.

“Basically, late night gigging was causing all this because I was falling off the stage due to the flashing lights and it was just manic. I was crashing the car and I didn’t know my left from my right. I thought I had to make some changes and I was basically told to slow down. I had to go on medication as well as make other changes, such as ruling out the late-night gigging and starting to exercise.

“I thought what else could I do and I thought about the Liam Ball Triathlon.”

A better path

Knowing what he was really facing for the first time helped Micky focus on a path to better well-being, starting with plenty of exercise. His natural desire to help others also resulted in his very own YouTube channel called ‘A Date with The Derry Boy’.

The channel provides the popular entertainer another platform to not only talk about the challenges he has faced, but gives the opportunity to take a light-hearted journey through his home town spreading a message of positivity and wellbeing.

“Sean Rice from SRI Media and I got together and thought we would do our own show on my own YouTube channel to encourage and empower people from all walks of life to get out there,” he explained. “We came up with the name ’A Date with a Derry Boy’. I put it up and it’s rising to the top. I have to keep believing now. This is going to be good for me and good for the people as well.

“The first show was called ‘Breaking the Habit to Mental Health. It was to encourage anybody who was misdiagnosed or diagnosed in their adult years, to try and encourage them to go and do a bit of exercise and try to step up to a challenge. 

“I’m encouraging them to join a club, to join somewhere you can get loads of support and go out and do something to help your mental health.”

The prospect of completing the triathlon, which consists of a 750m pool swim, a 20km bike and a 5km run was daunting to say the least for someone who couldn’t swim and who had never been on a bike.

“I went to Shauna Mullan who works at Templemore Sports Complex and who is head of Northwest Triathlon Club,” he explained. “She has been teaching me to swim the past few years but I kept on giving up. I used to do half a length of the pool and stop and think ‘There’s no way I’m going to be able to do a triathlon’. That was a year and a half ago, but Shauna kept encouraging me and pushing me as did Gavin Divin and his son Kaiden from K-Dence Apparel.

“Then I had to get myself a bike and I kept cycling up the line and back in again. I met two girls called Deborah Sainsbury and Lisa McIntyre and they encouraged to come out and run. I started running about 3k and kept gradually building it up.

“I thought then I would put my mental health to some sort of use and turn it into something positive. I contacted ZEST who provide counselling for people who self-harm, which I had been doing since I was 10 years of age. I went there for a while and I volunteered at one stage there also. I thought I would do something positive and raise funds for ZEST and ARC Fitness, who both badly need funds.”

Behind the music

Micky has made a name for himself locally and beyond for his talents over the years, but he admits that the showman people laughed and danced with late into the night was much different from a man who was fighting a losing battle behind closed doors.

“My life was manic,” he revealed. “I was running from here to there, from gig to gig, to my job in the hospital where I work in the mental health unit, I was just very, very unwell and as I was getting older, it was getting worse. Getting diagnosed was the best thing I have ever done.

“I had been self-harming since the age of 10. My mother had found me at the bottom of the stairs with a lead around my neck. I was in a really, really dark, dark place at that age. I thought ‘What way can I survive?’ at this age, so my job was to make people laugh and to entertain people. My life was so manic from that age, running from place to place and making people laugh and living up to this idea I had to do that. That’s where I got my high constantly.

“I couldn’t sit at school. I was constantly making people laugh and entertaining them and as I got older, I just got completely manic, where I was out entertaining but then I was going home and having really, really bad lows. I couldn’t sleep. I didn’t sleep for days; I was awake for days and my mental health just went down the drain.”

“I always felt that the Derry people depended on me for entertainment and to make them laugh, but I depended on the Derry people to get me through the day and the night. Without them now, I wouldn’t have the support and the love and the acceptance.”

Last autumn’s diagnosis has had a significant effect on Micky, who is now turning his life right around. Not only is he physically healthier than he has been for many years, his mental health is improving day by day, with the support of so many to accompany him on his journey. And for that, he is extremely grateful.

“It’s a big, massive challenge to do something as big as the Liam Ball,” he laughed. “A long time ago I thought to myself ‘God, I could never do anything like that’, but now here I am, with four weeks to go and I am loving the training. I am pushing myself really hard. I’m really trying. Every day I’m doing something.

“It’s going to be a challenge. Eight years ago, I lost my mammy and five weeks later I lost my daddy, and my mental health got even worse then. I couldn’t get above the water. I couldn’t be pushed to do anything, but I thought ‘I need to turn this around. I can’t live like this’.

“I thought I would give it one more go and I completely turned it around. I have really pushed myself with the help of Shauna and Gavin and with support from my friends and people around the city.”

New dawn

When Micky completes the Liam Ball on May 28, he will likely be given a hero’s reception at Templemore Sports Complex, but that will be secondary to what really matters – empowering himself physically and mentally, and raising much-needed funds for local charities ZEST and ARC Fitness.

Micky Doherty is very much a new man.

“I have been doing something every day since I was diagnosed, be it running, cycling or swimming. It has been really difficult trying to push myself, but now I am willing to give the Liam Ball a go on May 28. I’m booked and all and I’m ready to complete it. I’ve always been very energetic but I’ve never done this kind of sport. I’ve been told that swimming is a good way to deal with ADHD.”

“My new habits now are cold water dipping, meditation and daily affirmations, which have changed my life completely,” he explained. “I’ll be teaching all that in my videos. It only takes 21 days to break a habit and to hopefully start living a positive life, from the dark into the light.”

Always thinking of other people, Micky would like to thank everyone who has helped him on this journey as well as local sponsors K-Dence Apparel, The Bentley Group and Vogue Competitions.

If you would like to donate to either of Micky’s chosen charities, please visit ZEST or ARC Fitness on Facebook for more information.