£500K HOUSE FOR £5 TICKET
COUPLE SELLING £500K SECOND HOME TO RAISE CASH FOR CANCER CHARITY
A COUPLE have decided to raffle their luxury “Grand Designs” second home to raise cash for a cancer charity which helped their poorly daughter.
It means that for a ticket costing just £5, one entrant could be the owner of the £500,000 luxury barnstyle property in lovely countryside
Mark Keoghan and his wife Lucy, of Tutbury, decided to part with the house after their daughter was diagnosed with leukaemia.
They want to raise money for Children’s Cancer and Leukaemia Group, a charity that is now very close to their hearts.
But instead of simply selling the property, in the scenic countryside of Kilkenny, Southern Ireland, they decided to raffle it.
Mark, who works at East Midlands Airport, said: “It sounds like a mad decision. People will say we’re nuts.
“But I’ve seen it happen before. I did a bit of research and saw that raffling off homes had worked for other people in the past.
“We decided to part ways with the house because we realised, after the diagnosis, that life is too precious to be thinking about bricks and mortar.
“We thought this would be a good way to raise money for an incredible cause and give people the opportunity to win a dream house for just a fiver.”
Mark’s seven-year-old daughter, Mollie, was diagnosed with leukaemia earlier in the year.
Over a few months, she became weaker and noticed her arms, legs and chest were regularly aching.
Following several trips to the hospital, Mollie was rushed into A&E after she started screaming in agony.
She spent the night in QMC, and Mollie’s parents were taken aside and given the devastating news.
Mark admitted that night changed the family’s life beyond recognition.
He said: “Since then everything has been about chemo, morphine,
medication – you name it, Mollie’s had it.
“When she’s feeling fit she’s like every other girl. She goes to school for a few hours and sees friends. She loves it.
“But then she has to have blood transfusions, have her bone marrow taken. It leaves her quite weak and lethargic.
“On top of that we have Covid, which means only one of us can go to the hospital with her. That just adds to how difficult it all is.”
Mark admitted he and his wife
would have been lost without the support of Children’s Cancer and Leukaemia Group, after it provided vital advice and guidance during a difficult time in the family’s life.
Five per cent of everything raised from the raffle will go to the charity, which provides information and support to families affected by childhood cancer in the UK and Ireland.
The group is also responsible for research into cancers affecting young people and is working towards faster and less painful treatment methods for children.
Mark said: “From day one they have provided a torrent of information from all angles.
“When you’re hit with news like that, it’s important that you don’t just start Googling what to do.
“The charity made sure we knew how to deal with everything, from telling Mollie and our family the news to understanding exactly what the cancer is and how long the treatment will take.
“Anything we needed, they were there. We thought about how we could say thank you and the best way was to raise funding, which is always the most important thing.”
The family hope to raise more than £30,000 for the charity through the raffle of what they describe as a “dream house”.
The barn-style property, where Mark used to live before moving here for work, is fitted with a luxury interior, including slate floors and giant oak beams.
Designed and built by Mark himself, the house is made of old limestone and overlooks the luscious green fields of the Irish countryside.
He said: “I was a fan of Grand Designs and I loved barn conversions. This house was built from scratch by myself, so I am confident that it’s good quality.
“Fans of country houses will definitely see this is a dream home.
“But even if people don’t want to live in it, they have the chance to win an entire property for five pounds and will help an incredible cause in the process.
“You can help Mollie, help other people and maybe even help yourself. You never know when you might have to rely on a charity like the Leukaemia Group.”
So far over 15,000 raffle tickets have been sold, but the family are hoping to sell another 115,000 by the end of the campaign.
They have set up dedicated accounts on Facebook and Instagram to keep entrants updated with progress, and are aiming to hit their target by the end of the year.