Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Man held over seizure of 50k diazepam pills
A MAN has been arrested after police seized around 50,000 suspected diazepam tablets.
The 28-year-old was held after cops intercepted postal deliveries in the greater Belfast area on Wednesday.
The PSNI said two parcels were seized and a quantity of class A, B and C drugs were also found during follow-up searches.
Det Insp Thornton said: “The illegal supply and use of drugs is a priority for police, and seizures such as this demonstrate our ongoing commitment to tackling the scourge of drugs in our society.”
The man was released on bail.
CLODAGH Gribben was the “personification of love” and her generosity of spirit has inspired her heartbroken parents to mark what would have been her 23rd birthday with a fundraising drive for charity.
The Coleraine woman passed away on December 28 last year, just four days after being diagnosed with a very rare form of blood cancer.
Although still coming to terms with the loss of their daughter, Darren and Carol decided to set out to raise money for Leukaemia and Lymphoma NI.
Despite enduring two years of pain and suffering, scans, blood tests, a bonemarrow biopsy and endless hospital admissions, her parents say Clodagh’s spirit never wavered.
Diagnosed with autoimmune lymphoproliferative syndrome in March 2019, Clodagh’s health continued to deteriorate and on Christmas Eve she was diagnosed with Natural Killer T-cell Lymphoma.
Carol said: “It started with a tummy ache in 2017 and at that point they knew the spleen was enlarged and they realised from the scan that it was very enlarged.
“They were thinking it was lymphoma at that point but the bone marrow biopsy came up inconclusive and they removed the spleen and they couldn’t find any lymphoma, they found reactive cells but nothing conclusive.
“She had a lot of aches and pains and she was almost back to being a toddler where she had to go to bed at 8pm and it wasn’t just tiredness.
“People kind of even underestimate when you talk about fatigue, it really gets you down but Clodagh handled it all with such great spirit.
“There was never any self-pity, she had such a strong spirit. She was fiercely brave, so optimistic, whereas I struggled more, I felt angry and upset and all those things because of what it was doing to Clodagh.”
Tragically, Clodagh wouldn’t get her wish to return to her university course from which she had to take a leave of absence, nor would she get to train as a cognitive behavioural therapist which she so desired to do to try and “give something back”.
Inspired by their daughter’s spirit of giving, Clodagh’s parents launched a fundraiser online to mark what would have been her 23rd Birthday yesterday.
Within three days, the page had received over £5,000 for Leukaemia and Lymphoma NI.
Carol said: “At the end of the day Clodagh might not be here, but currently 100 people are diagnosed with some form of blood cancer every month. “She would be thinking, ‘I’m not the only one and there are others that need help’ and that’s what this is hopefully aimed at doing.”
To donate search Carol and Darren Gribben on Facebook.
COLERAINE YESTERDAY FATIGUE