Cooking up a storm in aid of cancer centre

KATE McInerney will be forever grateful to the West Clare Mini Marathon Cancer Fund for the help afforded to her, when she was diagnosed with cancer in 2010.

Such is her gratitude, Kate is organising a cookery demonstration with Nevin Maguire in the Armada Hotel Spanish Point on Thursday, May 2 at 8pm. All proceeds will be donated to the Kilkee-based cancer centre, which provided Kate with a taxi service from her home in Spanish Point to Galway, when she was receiving treatment.

“It’s in appreciation of the great service the West Clare Mini Marathon Cancer Fund provided during my own chemotherapy. It was great not to have the worry of getting to Galway. We’re in excess of 120km from Galway,” Kate told The Clare Champion.

While her husband, John, was prepared to do all of the driving, the couple had their three young boys to look after. Therefore, the door-to-door taxi service was a huge help.

“Although John wanted to bring me, you’d be talking about two days every second week, for 24 weeks. He would have two days completely gone out of the week. Friends were also offering to take me but I couldn’t have people taking time off work.

“It really helped me to retain my independence as well. Plus, you had the guarantee that the taxi was waiting outside the door for you on both days,” Kate noted.

Now that she has been given the all-clear, Kate is keen to give something back to the cancer centre in Kilkee.

“I was always interested in cooking and I ran my own bed and breakfast in the past. It’s a follow-on from that. I want to do something for the centre because they were so good for me.

“It will help the centre to continue to help others. Because of my own interest in cooking, the obvious choice for me was a cookery demonstration,” she said.

Tickets are available from The West Clare Mini Marathon Centre in Kilkee, The Armada Hotel, Jone’s supermarket and Kelly’s pharmacy in Miltown Malbay, Beatrice O’Dwyer in Quilty, Fitzpatrick’s in Ennistymon and Whelan’s in Doonbeg.

Kate is confident that Nevin Maguire’s cookery skills will appeal to both sexes.

“Definitely. Maybe the women might purchase tickets and coax the men into coming,” she suggested.

The cookery demonstration will be preceded by a wine reception at 7pm.

The mini marathon and associated fundraisers has raised more than €1.7m since1998. A minibus service, funded by the committee, currently operates from West Clare to Limerick five days per week.

The bus brings patients to Limerick for cancer treatment, while taxi services, again supplied by the mini marathon committee, operate from Kilmihil, Miltown and Ennistymon.

The West Clare Cancer Centre is open from Monday to Thursday from 11am to 2pm and on Saturdays from 2pm to 3pm. The centre, which is located just off O’Curry Street in Kilkee, can be contacted on 065 9060762.

Among the other services provided by the committee are funding for cancer patients and their family members travelling to Lourdes, palliative aids for patients’ home use, funding for palliative care units in Regina House, Kilrush and Ennistymon Community Hospital, while professional counselling is offered at the cancer centre.