Friends asked to wear Grace’s favourite colours for funeral

Just days before her eleventh birthday, schoolgirl Grace Kenneally died at home in Tirellan Heights after battling for more than half her short life with cancer.

The desperately sad news was relayed on the Facebook Page, Saving Grace: “Our darling Grace took her final breath yesterday (Sunday) evening at home surrounded by her loving family. Forever ten, forever loved, forever in our hearts.”

The post prompted hundreds of heartfelt replies from her army of supporters and well-wishers, many of whom who have been tirelessly fundraising for Grace’s medical treatment across Galway and throughout the country.

Many spoke about how inspirational Grace was, always appearing to be cheerful and stoic in the face of horrific pain and endless hospital visits. Her mother, Ethna, a single parent, has been lauded as an unswerving source of strength during the six-year ordeal, never leaving her only child’s side.

Grace was originally diagnosed with Stage 3 Neuroblastoma in September 2010 days after enrolling in Scoil Dara in Renmore.

She was treated with chemotherapy and surgery for six months but she relapsed in January 2012. A more rigorous regime followed in the form of stronger chemo, radiation and Cis-Retinoic acid, an oral chemo which ended in February 2013. That November, Grace was admitted to University Hospital Galway with suspected appendicitis but further tests revealed that the tumour that had appeared stable in a scan a month before had doubled in size.

After three punishing rounds of chemotherapy, an overseas trial was deemed to be her only option as the recurring tumours were not responding.

In July 2014, supporters set up the “Saving Grace” campaign with a target of €250,000 to support Grace and single mom Ethna with medical-related expenses, with the ultimate goal to send Grace abroad for more radical treatment. After a year they had raised a phenomenal €200,000.

Last summer she was sent to London’s Royal Marsden Hospital for a second opinion and treatment. However, her kidneys were damaged in the process and treatment options became very limited.

Grace was put on an antibody trial in Crumlin Children’s Hospital. Following two rounds of this new painful regime of drugs, her consultant took her off the trial in February as it was found not to be working.

As she never went into remission, Grace was not well enough to take part in the clinical trial that her family were counting on to provide the miracle cure.

They recently posted this message: “We received the most devastating news a little while back that she was going into renal failure caused by both the cancer and the chemotherapy she was receiving at home – so treatment has been stopped.

“Day by day, she is losing her strength, sleeping a lot and barely moving or speaking. But luckily she had her Make-A-Wish granted and had a blast in Disney World, Florida.

“Grace is under the care of the Galway Hospice Homecare Team now who are doing a fantastic job of keeping her comfortable at home.”

She died on Sunday, with her funeral planned to coincide with her eleventh birthday. Her aunt Katherine asked that her schoolmates wear Grace’s favourite colours into school that day – pink, purple and turquoise.

“Anyone planning on attending Grace’s funeral, should wear bright colours to celebrate her short but happy life,” she urged.

For more on this story, see the Galway City Tribune.