![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/c3319bfe-a67d-42f9-b25e-834fd8de8a0a.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThe TV presenter and fashion designer lost his father, Frank, to a stroke in 2017.<\/p>\n
Stripping off for an icy sea swim, Courtney said the charity\u2019s work is personal to him, not only because of his father\u2019s death, but because he manages his own high blood pressure.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy father was a very funny man with a great sense of humour and while the stroke slowed him down, it didn\u2019t take his sense of fun, and I miss that every day,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Courtney braved the Irish Sea to promote the Irish Heart Foundation\u2019s \u201c12 Dips in December\u201d challenge, supported by Daybreak, which calls on people across Dublin to take 12 dips \u2014 in open water, a pool, or even an ice bath \u2014 throughout the month.<\/p>\n
\u201cI swim most days, it is such a leveller, it brings you right into your body and holds you in the present, it is also great for your immune system and general mental health,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou never regret a sea swim, especially when it\u2019s about raising awareness to help save people\u2019s lives.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The presenter lost his own father to a stroke in 2017 and says he misses his sense of humour every day<\/p>\n
The charity is asking people to register and begin fundraising at its dedicated online platform, where participants log each of their 12 dips.<\/p>\n
Funds raised will support efforts to prevent heart disease and stroke and increase cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) training across the country.<\/p>\n
Janine Watson, Head of Retail Sales with Musgrave Wholesale Partners, operators of the Daybreak retail franchise, said the company is pleased to support the initiative.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt Daybreak, we\u2019re incredibly proud to support the Irish Heart Foundation\u2019s 12 Dips in December challenge,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cCommunity is at the heart of everything we do, and this initiative is a fantastic way to bring our retailers and their teams together across Ireland, have some fun, and raise vital funds for heart health.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re excited to see the impact we can make by rallying local communities around such an important cause.\u201d<\/p>\n
Irish Heart Foundation CEO Emma Balmaine said the fundraising drive plays a crucial role in keeping services running.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn addition, they support patient services such as counselling and our Nurse Support Line, advocacy and health promotion work,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re hugely grateful to Daybreak for their support and to all those who are getting involved; every dip makes a difference!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The TV presenter and fashion designer lost his father, Frank, to a stroke in 2017. Stripping off for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":188095,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[75],"tags":[52,18,117,19,17,1842],"class_list":{"0":"post-188094","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-dublin","9":"tag-eire","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland","13":"tag-sarah-burke"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115573709172242567","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188094","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=188094"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188094\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/188095"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=188094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=188094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=188094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}