By Marion Lynch | Corporate Fundraising Executive
A Heartfelt Message from Aoife's Family
``When our ray of sunshine Aoife started chemotherapy. We had no idea what we were about to face!``
I’ll never forget the Christmas before our Aoife turned five. The Christmas we learned that our beautiful, sunny-side-up girl would need to start chemotherapy immediately after the holidays – to try and slow a tumour that was growing in the exact wrong place in her eye.
The Start of Lawless’s Fight
Nobody has children thinking there’s going to be a problem.
That first round of therapy made Aoife violently ill for hours and hours. Seeing pain wrack her body while she was still so small, and being powerless to help, was one of my hardest moments. I couldn’t conceive how she’d make it through.
Every decision our family made centred around the treatments.
The Impact of Treatment
Our sunny-side-up girl grew sad and anxious. Her golden princess hair fell out in clumps, and she was completely exhausted all the time. If I’m honest, we all were.
It was so hard on Aoife’s brother, Tom too. Our little man was only eight.
You feel a million miles away from being a normal family. Your heart breaks for the loss of that future, while you try to be upbeat for your children.
It was Mary our social worker at the hospital who told us about camp. She told us how almost everything at Barretstown is made possible out of the pure loving kindness of people like you who give and fundraise for us. Your support gives us the chance to rest and reset at a time that feels endlessly dark.
Barretstown: A Place of Healing and Joy
``It felt like magic even then, and words can never describe the gift of healing that Barretstown's supporters gave to us.``
The joy, the laughter, the escape from our worries, camp truly is healing magic. A harbour in the storm. That magic stays with you, even when you leave.
Barretstown helped Aoife’s confidence soar. Not just during that single camp, but for life.
Being loved and appreciated, precisely for who they are and where they’re at in their journey with serious illnesses like cancer, is the best healing magic of all.
Thank you all for making this magic possible for Aoife.
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