Young marathon runner reunited with lost iPod containing pics of tragic mum

Louise Walsh

A grieving young girl was reunited with her precious iPod last weekend, which she lost before running the Dublin mini-marathon in memory of her mum who died just seven months ago.
Arianna Harding (11) was devastated when she mislaid the device, which contained dozens of pictures and social media chats with her mum Janice who passed away after a sudden stroke at just 47 years of age.
The Navan girl ran the gruelling event for the first time, alongside her aunts Hazel and Julie Harding to raise funds for the Mater Hospital.
Over 60 kindhearted school-friends from Cannistown NS and their families also took part in the mini-marathon in support of their pal Arianna.
Arianna and her family had no luck finding the iPod after retracing their steps and lost all hope of locating it until Subway in Nassau Street rang almost a week later to say it had turned up there.
'We had tried everywhere and Arianna was just devastated to lose the iPod because of all the snapchat screen grabs and pics on it of her mam,' said Arianna's aunt Hazel
'She was so exhausted and upset that evening because she loved her mum so much.
'Janice suffered a massive stroke last November and within three weeks was taken from her husband Eddie and her four children Giles (16), Regan (14), Arianna and Carlina (7)
'Eddie has had to give up work to take care of the kids and they are all just heartbroken she's gone.
'We had virtually given up when Subway - where we had eaten that day - rang us to say they found an iPod but the screen was all cracked. We drove up straight away last weekend and after charging it, discovered we still had all the photos.'
Arianna herself admitted she was 'delighted' to get back the precious device.
'It must have fallen out of my pocket. I never thought I'd get it back because of all the time that had passed and was so surprised when I came home from school to the news. I have all my pics back now.'
The family would like to say a big thanks to Subway and to everyone who helped in their search.