Dad raffles dream home to help his ill daughter
BID TO RAISE CASH FOR GIRL WITH LEUKAEMIA
THE family of a girl with leukaemia are selling their second home to raise cash for her and a charity that has helped her
Mark Keoghan, who is originally from Kilkenny, is selling the home outside the Irish city.
The East Midlands Airport worker and his wife, Lucy, were given the devastating news about their daughter Mollie, seven, in July.
Rather than put the property on the market, the house is being raffled, with a percentage of the proceeds going to Children’s Cancer and Leukamia Group.
Since the raffle went live on November 13, they have sold 15,000 tickets at £5 each. The goal is to sell 130,000 by the end of January.
Mark, 46, said life changed forever when Mollie was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.
He said: “It was on July 30. She had been complaining about having sore legs, arms, head – her body was sore from almost March.
“We had been to the hospital and A&E five times in the middle of the night and, as usual, when you get there, she had a miraculous recovery, so they say ‘go home and give her some Calpol.’
“She might be fine for a few weeks, but if we went for a family walk, Mollie would be dragging behind.
“The final straw was that night when we took her in at 4am when she was in pain.”
After a two-hour wait, Mark said: “We’re then invited into that little room which no parents ever want to visit where we’re told our daughter has leukaemia.
“That’s how it all started, our life was turned upside down that day.
“She was taken to the Queen’s Medical Centre, in Nottingham, the specialist children’s oncology centre in the area, and that’s been our life since.”
Mollie has to have monthly blood transfusions, which Mollie has nicknamed her “strawberry juice”, to allow her to have chemotherapy.
While the decision to sell his dream house was difficult, Mark said it was a no-brainer when compared with the condition of his daughter and the chance to help others.
He said: “It was my dream to build the house there and eventually settle down.
“However, life changes and you have to deal with the cards you’re dealt.
“It wasn’t until Mollie’s diagnosis when we kind of realised that there’s more to life than just bricks and mortar.
“Life is precious and let’s plan ahead.”
Mark said Mollie is responding well to treatment and will be starting a twomonth block of intense chemotherapy and steroids next month, which he said will be very hard on her.
The house has four bedrooms and lies eight miles from Kilkenny.
Built in 2010, using limestone from family land, it has underfloor heating and a pressurised water system fed by a 400ft-deep well.
Deer wander into the garden from the adjacent forest.
Mark said: “We have a lot of time off work now due to furlough to look after Mollie and the two boys, but it’s nice to have something else to focus on.
“If we sell all the tickets before that date, there will be a draw when the last ticket is sold for the house.
“If all the tickets aren’t sold, there will still be a draw for whatever is in the pot – 75 per cent to the winners, 5 per cent to the charity, the remainder to the organiser, Rafall.com.”
Go to: raffall.com/143742/enter-raffle-to-win-dreamhouse-ireland-hosted-by-lucy-keoghan#_=_