Connacht Tribune
Community rallies to the cause for cancer battler
They made a day and a night of it in Loughrea – taking to the roads and the stage – in a massive show of support for one of their own battling cervical cancer.
Singer Áine Morgan says herself that she never wanted to be centre-stage because of her illness – but she now desperately needs to pay for a lifesaving drug that has yet to be licenced in Ireland.
The Loughrea woman can get Pemprolizumab – the same ‘wonder drug’ that Vicky Phelan is on to keep her cervical cancer at bay – but it would cost her an incredible €8,500 every three weeks; which is why she reluctantly started a fundraising campaign to save her life.
“I have to be brutally honest and say that as I set up the go fund me, the tears were streaming down my face,” she wrote on her Facebook page.
“I’m not comfortable with it at all; I shouldn’t have to – this drug should be covered but it’s obviously not,” she explained.
The response was immediate and enormous – and last week saw two major events in her home town’ a special concert where dozens of her fellow musicians turned out in force, followed by a run in the worst of the weekend rain that someone managed to deter no one from turning out in support.
The concert – hosted by Pat and Una McDonagh at their hotel – saw Aine on stage with a host of her friends, including the great Sean Keane with whom she duetted on the beautiful One More Hour.
DaDerga, Fraggle Rock, Who Knows, More Cowbell and Enda Dempsey all took to the stage for a fantastic night of music that raised €12,800 on the night – a fantastic example of how community can come together.
That was followed by a 5k on Friday night, organised by personal trainer Aileen Hardiman who also ran a similar event for Olive Shaughnessy – another local woman who has battled cancer – a couple of years back.
“We wanted to do something to help with medical costs and also to raise awareness that this drug should be accessible to all those who need it. There should not be a price on someone’s life,” said Aileen.
The route was lined with the members of the Loughrea Athletic Club, and Patrick Forde along with his committee members in Kilconieron directed traffic and made it safe for everyone involved. The Loughrea Civil Defence led the run around Tullahill.
Despite the horrible weather, young, old, fit, unfit, mothers and daughters, dads and sons, sisters, brothers all completed a 5k run, walk, for Áine.
“What was astonishing was that the 300-plus people that did it, crossed the line smiling,” said her proud brother and local photographer Larry Morgan.
See full story and photos in this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Save Áine is on gofundme where you can donate whatever you can to help Áine Morgan in her battle with cervical cancer. See https://gofundme.com/save-aine.
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Significant state investment is required to address ‘shocking’ inequalities that leave cancer patients in the West at greater risk of succumbing to the disease.
A meeting of Regional Health Forum West heard that survival rates for breast, lung and colorectal cancers than the national average, and with the most deprived quintile of the population, the West’s residents faced poorer outcomes from a cancer diagnosis.
For breast cancer patients, the five-year survival rate was 80% in the West versus 85% nationally; for lung cancer patients it was 16.7% in the west against a 19.5% national survival rate; and in the West’s colorectal cancer patients, there was a 62.6% survival rate where the national average was 63.1%.
These startling statistics were provided in answer to a question from Ballinasloe-based Cllr Evelyn Parsons (Ind) who said it was yet another reminder that cancer treatment infrastructure in the West was in dire need of improvement.
“The situation is pretty stark. In the Western Regional Health Forum area, we have the highest incidence of deprivation and the highest health inequalities because of that – we have the highest incidences of cancer nationally because of that,” said Cllr Parsons, who is also a general practitioner.
In details provided by CEO of Saolta Health Care Group, which operates Galway’s hospitals, it was stated that a number of factors were impacting on patient outcomes.
Get the full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now, or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie. You can also download our Connacht Tribune App from Apple’s App Store or get the Android Version from Google Play.
Galway 3-18
Cork 1-10
NEW setting; new opposition; new challenge. It made no difference to the Galway minor hurlers as they chalked up a remarkable sixth consecutive double digits championship victory at Semple Stadium on Saturday.
The final scoreline in Thurles may have been a little harsh on Cork, but there was no doubting Galway’s overall superiority in setting up only a second-ever All-Ireland showdown against Clare at the same venue on Sunday week.
Having claimed an historic Leinster title the previous weekend, Galway took a while to get going against the Rebels and also endured their first period in a match in which they were heavily outscored, but still the boys in maroon roll on.
Beating a decent Cork outfit by 14 points sums up how formidable Galway are. No team has managed to lay a glove on them so far, and though Clare might ask them questions other challengers haven’t, they are going to have to find significant improvement on their semi-final win over 14-man Kilkenny to pull off a final upset.
Galway just aren’t winning their matches; they are overpowering the teams which have stood in their way. Their level of consistency is admirable for young players starting off on the inter-county journey, while the team’s temperament appears to be bombproof, no matter what is thrown at them.
Having romped through Leinster, Galway should have been a bit rattled by being only level (0-4 each) after 20 minutes and being a little fortunate not to have been behind; or when Cork stormed out of the blocks at the start of the second half by hitting 1-4 to just a solitary point in reply, but there was never any trace of panic in their ranks.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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GARDAÍ and the IFA have issued a joint appeal to all road users to take extra care as the silage season gets under way across the country.
Silage harvesting started in many parts of Galway last week – and over the coming month, the sight of tractors and trailers on rural roads will be getting far more frequent.
Inspector Conor Madden, who is in charge of Galway Roads Policing, told the Farming Tribune that a bit of extra care and common-sense from all road users would go a long way towards preventing serious collisions on roads this summer.
“One thing I would ask farmers and contractors to consider is to try and get more experienced drivers working for them.
“Tractors have got faster and bigger – and they are also towing heavy loads of silage – so care and experience are a great help in terms of accident prevention,” Inspector Madden told the Farming Tribune.
He said that tractor drivers should always be aware of traffic building up behind them and to pull in and let these vehicles pass, where it was safe to do so.
“By the same token, other road users should always exercise extra care; drive that bit slower; and ‘pull in’ that bit more, when meeting tractors and heavy machinery.
“We all want to see everyone enjoying a safe summer on our roads – that extra bit of care, and consideration for other roads users can make a huge difference,” said Conor Madden.
He also advised motorists and tractor drivers to be acutely aware of pedestrians and cyclists on the roads during the summer season when more people would be out walking and cycling on the roads.
The IFA has also joined in on the road safety appeal with Galway IFA Farm Family and Social Affairs Chair Teresa Roche asking all road users to exercise that extra bit of care and caution.
“We are renewing our annual appeal for motorists to be on the look out for tractors, trailers and other agricultural machinery exiting from fields and farmyards,” she said.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App
Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.
Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.
Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Families queue up for school’s offer of free house
West has lower cancer survival rates than rest
Galway minors continue to lay waste to all opponents
Gardaí and IFA issue a joint appeal on summer road safety
Marathon Man plans to call a halt – but not before he hits 160 races
