Séamus takes to the road to raise funds for cancer

TEEN HOPES TO RAISE €500 FOR GARY KELLY CANCER CENTRE

A Termonfeckin teen is raising money for the charity which helped his mum while she was going through cancer treatment.

13-year-old Seamus Rushe is walking a total of 12km to raise funds for the Gary Kelly Cancer Centre, where his mum Eileen (right) attended in the wake of her cancer treatment last year.

He originally planned to raise just €50 from his pocket money and friends’ donations, but he is now approaching €500 and counting.

“Like many other charities, they have had to cancel vital fundraisers which may affect services going forward for cancer patients and their families,” explains Eileen, who was given the all-clear last year. “The centre was a lifesaver for me over the last 18 months, and he just wanted to do something to say thank you and help others.”

The walk will be a loop from Galroostown – Milltown to Termonfeckin (within the restricted 2km limit) and he will do it twice to make up the miles.

“I really miss the centre now that we can’t go out, and I made such amazing friends there – I’m in my 30s, and I have best friends for life in their 50s and 60s,” says Eileen, who wrote a blog of her cancer diagnosis from January 2018. “From arts and crafts to counselling, they really do provide an incredible service, not only in Drogheda, but as far away as Navan, the Naul and Dundalk, and there really is something for everyone.”

The Gary Kelly Centre is based in George’s Street in Drogheda and was officially launched in June 2004 by former Irish International and Leeds player Gary Kelly, whose sister Mandy Weldon dies in 1998 through breast cancer.

They offer free practical, emotional and social support to people with cancer and their families.

Eileen and Seamus are living with her parents in Termonfeckin, and she says thankfully they are all well.

“We have been blessed with good weather, and my dad has been digging the garden to Australia!” she says with a laugh. “I finished my radiotherapy in April of last year, so have been clear and attending the centre for exactly a year, so can’t wait to get back to it.”

Seamus will be walking this Friday and has a donate.ie page to collect money for the centre.

Find it on Seamus Rushe’s Sponsored Walk in aid of the Gary Kelly Centre, or on his mum’s facebook page Eileen Rushe.