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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