As many people already know, my adored mother Marie was diagnosed with advanced Bowel Cancer on the 7th of December 2020.

It was a Monday morning when we got the phone call. We were all in such shock. You always hear of other families being affected with cancer but you never think that one day it could be your own. Mom was kept in hospital for 11 days getting tests done. She was only 52 at the time, she was too young for something awful like this to be happening. . But we are a strong family. Luckily for her, having 8 kids meant she was kept very busy and we all tried our best to enjoy the Christmas.

On the 11th of January her Chemo journey began where she would return every two weeks in Castlebar hospital. For the first 7 months, she was responding really well to her treatment. Mom kept high spirts and wanted to continue on her life as normal as possible while receiving her treatment. Unfortunately, Covid hit our family in August which slowed down everything for her.

Mom has been admitted to hospital four times since August. She has only received two rounds of chemo as her bloods are often too high or too low and she has no energy. It's a very scary time. Mom is frustrated that she cannot carry out her everyday tasks and the things she loves.

This makes us all very angry especially when there is nothing we can do about it but be there for her as much as we can. 

I wanted to do something, I can't sit back anymore. I have often been in touch with Irish Cancer Society and they offer such an amazing support team to those going through similar situations.

As a family, we decided we wanted to raise funds for cancer research.
Cancer research can span from cancer prevention to laboratory research that examines new or improved ways to detect cancer or developing new drugs to fight cancer , from clinical trials to quality-of-life research for survivors.

Too many individuals in our community have been affected by this terrible disease. Help us come up with the much needed funds to find ways to fight this.

Starting today and for the next 21 days joined by my brother Jonathan and other family membres on the weekends, we will be getting into the cold water at Urlaur lake. It may sound easy for some but for me personally this will be a challenge. Our final day, Tuesday the 7th of December will mark one year of our Moms fight. We want to remember her bravery and encourage her to keep fighting.

Thankyou so much for taking the time to read our story.