Sadly, Claire Elizabeth Keelagher (nee Comer) passed away earlier this year, peacefully and surrounded by loved ones on the 10th January 2024.

Claire had been privately battling cancer since being diagnosed in August 2023 and I cannot tell you how proud we all are of her and how strong she has been throughout, showing strength, dignity and determination at very single stage, never losing sight of the fact that she had no intention of leaving us all, wearing a smile every step of the way; still ordering us around to the very end!!

There aren’t really words to describe how we all feel about Claire, certainly none I feel that could do Claire the justice she deserves. Claire was genuinely the most incredible person. She was beautiful, kind, intelligent, considerate, patient, loyal, driven and most importantly incredibly strong; she truly was an amazing women; genuinely touching the lives of everyone that knew her.

Claire was posthumously award the ‘Claire Comer Exceptional Achievement Award’ from her colleagues at DePuy Synthes, as the first recipient:

“Claire was an exceptional leader,a beacon of resilience who demonstrated continued outstanding achievement.

Claire was diagnosed with a Krukenberg tumor, a rare and specific type of tumor that grows in the ovaries. However, a Krukenberg tumor isn’t strictly an ovarian cancer. These tumors are caused by another cancer, a source, usually found as a stomach cancer, such as in Claire’s case, that has spread (metastasized) to the ovaries or indeed other areas. Sadly, this type of Cancer is often, mainly seen in young women in their pre 40s; which is devastating when you are in the prime of your life.

Our hope is to develop Claire's Wishes (https://claireswishes.org/) as a non-profit organisation to help support and educate people around Krukenburg tumours and this type of Cancer, most importantly to raise awareness and show people what to look for to aid in early diagnosis.

As one of our first, major fund raising initiatives, to raise money for the charity, Claire’s colleagues from DePuy Synthes, part of Johnson and Johnson, will be tackling the ‘Three Peak Challenge’, raising funds for Claire’s Wishes anfd I will be taking on the challenge with Claire's team.