Tag Archives: cancer

April 2020. As the first Covid 19 lockdown brings life in Ireland to a shuddering halt, Eddie McGuinness, the founder of the world’s first LGBTQ+ matchmaking festival, The Outing, is busy doing exactly what you’d expect him to be doing, calling balcony bingo for his neighbours from his second floor apartment. But after weeks of calling numbers and rallying local spirits, Eddie began to realise that something wasn’t quite right. His throat was increasingly sore at the end of each session, he was losing weight and low on energy. His first thought, naturally, was Covid 19. But when his symptoms worsened week after week, he began to fear that his health was facing something altogether more serious. Unbeknownst to Eddie, he was suffering from stage four throat cancer and he was about to face the fight of his life. “I was being extra careful at that time, we all were, every time you felt unwell you thought it might have …

A Quin-based terminally ill cancer patient has paid tribute to the late CervicalCheck campaigner, Vicky Phelan for leaving a legacy that will save lives in future generations. Ms Phelan, (48), who was diagnosed with cervical cancer in 2014,  died early on Monday morning in Milford Hospice, Co Limerick surrounded by her family. The Kilkenny woman, who had moved to live in Limerick, exposed the controversy around the national screening programme CervicalCheck, where she and other women were not informed that cervical cancer smear test results showing them to be in the clear were actually inaccurate. Speaking from Milford Hospice on Monday, John Wall said while family and friends knew Vicky would die at some stage, they could never be prepared for losing someone who has left such an indelible mark on peoples’ lives. In the first instance, he said Vicky would be remembered as a great mother, wife, sister, who had left a grieving husband, Jim, and her children, Amelia …

A HARDY group of Clare cyclists will travel the entire length of the country next week, raising funds for cancer charities and commemorating two women who passed away in 2021. In July of last year Ballyea’s Susan O’Neill died having battled cancer, and then in November Quilty’s Antoinette Pender also passed, having fought the disease bravely. The cycle, entitled ‘South for Susan and Antoinette’, is in their memory and funds are being raised for Sláinte an Chláir and Cancer Care West. The group of cyclists will make their way to Donegal this Sunday, before setting off from Malin Head on Monday morning on a gruelling challenge. The Monday will see them cycle from Malin Head to Donegal Town; on Tuesday it’s Donegal to Claremorris; Wednesday is Claremorris to Ballyea; Thursday is Ballyea to Blarney and finally on Friday the cyclists will make their way to Mizen Head. The starting point is Ireland’s most northerly point and the finishing its most …

WHEN Ennis held its first Relay for Life event on 23 June 2018, the committee was “blown away” by the community support. Since 2018, the generosity continued helping Relay for Life Ennis raise over €100,000 for the Irish Cancer Society through two live events and two virtual events. County Clare will get another chance to show their support this year as Relay for Life Ennis returns on June 18 and 19 at Tim Smythe Park.  Auriol Considine, Relay for Life Ennis chairperson comments, “We never imagined this event would be an instant success and this is down to the support we have received from the community. “Our main aim was to create an event where we could come together united against cancer to celebrate life, remember loved ones lost to the disease, and fight back against cancer by raising awareness. The fact that our team participants have raised that much money to support cancer patients and their families is amazing!” …

LAHINCH’S Rachel O’Mahony is urging the public to support vital cancer research, by supporting Daffodil Day this Friday, March 25. Rachel was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2007. As part of her treatment, she took part in a clinical trial for a cancer drug. Today, 14 years after her breast cancer diagnosis, Rachel is back to full fitness and health. She is a patient advocate for research that looks at new ways to prevent, detect or treat cancer, including the world-class research funded by the Irish Cancer Society, the largest funder of cancer research in Ireland. Originally from Cork, she has lived in Lahinch with her husband Declan for the last 25 years. When she was struck by cancer, it was a huge shock, as she was young and fit. “I was 38 at the time and it was a bolt from the blue. Not that I ever took my health for granted, my Mum was a nurse and we …

Leading light of the Clare 250 Cycle Claire Nugent tells Fiona McGarry about the epic work in running the event THE Clare 250 Cycle is known the length and breadth of the county and has involved hundreds of participants from every town, village and townland since it first took to the road in 1980. The event has been the vital fundraiser for the Clare 250 Lourdes Pilgrimage, whereby cyclists have nominated cancer patients in their own communities and undertaken the challenge of raising funds for them to travel. The cycle has also funded the Clare 250 Centre in Ballygriffey, an oasis of calm in a woodland setting. What isn’t as well known is the military-style operation that has gone on behind the scenes of the cycle, keeping participants fed and hydrated on the 250-mile journey into almost every corner of Clare. For four decades, Ennis woman Claire Nugent has been to the forefront in rallying the troops and keeping the …

THE government is being warned that more people will die from delayed and missed cancer diagnoses, than from Covid-19, unless funding for oncology treatment and screening is properly supported over the course of the pandemic. Medical card campaigner John Wall, who himself has Stage IV cancer, was reacting to a briefing from The Department of Health outlining reduced services, as well as major increase in waiting lists. “Obviously, the pandemic is absolutely catastrophic,” he said. “But, the fact is that more people are dying every day of the week from cancer than from Covid-19. Covid cases must be dealt with in conjunction with oncology services. There is no doubt but that those delivering health services are doing their very best, but the reality is that people are already going undiagnosed and cancers are being missed, and that before you factor in the impact of Covid-19. I see, every day, the issues that people are having when they don’t get a …

A QUIN woman, with an aggressive form of cancer, has hit out at the fact that so many sick people have to fight to access life-saving treatments. Maria Meade’s oncologist has recommended a break-through drug, but currently her health insurer doesn’t automatically cover the cost for patients at her stage of illness. A year-long course of Pembrolizamub, an immunotherapy treatment, will cost at least €150,000, a price tag which Fianna Fáil Deputy Cathal Crowe compared, in the Dáil, to paying a second mortgage. Maria and her husband Tom describe themselves as “very private people”. Speaking publicly on sensitive health issues is the last thing they would ordinarily do, but the couple said they have been left with no choice. After some physically gruelling surgery, carried out in the depths of the lockdown, Maria is cancer free. Her oncologist has told her that her best chance of staying that way is to start a course of the break-through drug, also known …