![Joe Bourke and (inset) his late sister Catherine. Joe Bourke and (inset) his late sister Catherine.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/7PapGKjYPrPEgYfvAPt3Wq/b3b040f0-37ba-474d-bcfe-9a9a8dab3995.jpg/r0_0_2064_1287_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
JOE Bourke reckons his sister Catherine would be pretty chuffed.
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As Mr Bourke - who spent part of his childhood in Bathurst but lives in Canberra these days - prepares to get family and friends together to take part in the Edgell Jog in his sister's memory, he feels confident that she would approve of the endeavour.
"She loved being the centre of attention, so I think she would love people making themselves work and train in her honour," he says.
Ms Bourke, who lived with cystic fibrosis and featured on the front page of the Western Advocate when she had a double lung transplant in 2004, passed away seven years ago.
"When she was younger, before her lung transplant, she did the Edgell Jog," Mr Bourke said.
"It was essentially like doing an eight kay run, which it was then, with lungs that didn't really work; it was kind of like breathing through a straw.
"It was in the late 1990s, I think it was '99, and I was three years old, so I can't remember it that well. But I just remember that it was something that she did and everyone was proud of her.
"And there were a number of things she did throughout her life which were just very inspiring.
"And, to be honest, running the race to her was probably one of the easier things she did because she had to accomplish so much and get through a lot of adversity."
![Catherine Bourke. Catherine Bourke.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/7PapGKjYPrPEgYfvAPt3Wq/22e49daa-ebb1-4c00-8527-022f82f32cbb.jpg/r0_0_565_420_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Mr Bourke said he had made a conscious effort over the years to "do something positive" to mark the anniversary of his sister's passing and his plan to raise money for Cystic Fibrosis Australia by taking part in the Edgell Jog is a natural progression.
His Edgell Jog group will be made up of his family (including his brother, who lives in Bathurst, who Mr Bourke visits regularly), his partner's family and some close friends.
"I'd say I'm the only one [of the group] who runs regularly," he said.
"My mum's going to kind of walk it - hopefully in that 90-minute time so she doesn't get pulled off the road," he laughed.
"A number of people are walking it, but at least half of us, I'd say, are running."
He describes his sister as "a total larrikin and a bit of a ratbag at times" who had a great sense of humour and liked to spin a yarn - including, on occasion, to an unsuspecting hospital staff member.
"She had years, cumulatively, in hospital and it would have just got so boring for her and she often told completely made-up stories to nurses," Mr Bourke said.
![Catherine Bourke in ICU at St Vincents Hospital, Sydney after shed received a double lung transplant. Catherine Bourke in ICU at St Vincents Hospital, Sydney after shed received a double lung transplant.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/7PapGKjYPrPEgYfvAPt3Wq/87f52106-1b16-460c-b0ab-bd314df7c092.jpg/r0_9_1951_1544_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Not only did she have the not-insignificant challenge of cystic fibrosis, but she was "on the spectrum and had some learning difficulties", he said.
"So everything kind of combined and she had lots of challenges that I've never, and most people would never, have to face.
"So my thinking is, especially when I'm trying to run and beat a time or whatever, it's a very small challenge compared to what she had to do.
"And it's fortunate for me to have that inspiration not only for running - which is a small thing - but for life."
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Those who would like to donate to Mr Bourke's group's fundraising for their Edgell Jog run can do so at https://cysticfibrosis.grassrootz.com/our-fundraisers/kt-s-cruisers.
"I am conscious that a lot of people will be running for other causes and no cause is more worthy than another," he said.
"But if anyone reads or hears about Catherine or other people with CF, because I'm sure there'd be others in Bathurst who would be living with CF, or who know people who are living with CF, who are inspired by her or by those people in their lives, then I'd encourage them to either donate to us or just to CF directly."
Apart from all her jokes and larrikinism, Ms Bourke was "a family person", Mr Bourke said, who missed out on some important times because she was in hospital.
"And so I think the family coming together for her [for the Edgell Jog] would be really special for her," he said.
"She still figures pretty heavily in all of our lives.
"I think she'd be pretty chuffed."
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