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Killarney woman urges support for cancer patient services this Daffodil Day

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A Killarney woman who was diagnosed with a rare form of leukaemia is urging the people of Kerry to support cancer patients by getting involved with the Irish Cancer Society’s Daffodil Day on Friday, March 24.

Naomi Brosnan was only 17-years-old when she received her cancer diagnosis - called Burkitt's lymphoma - eight years ago. Naomi’s cancer was so severe she had to begin chemotherapy straight away, leaving no time to begin fertility preservation treatment. This concerned Naomi as she knew that the intensive chemotherapy treatment could affect her future family.

Once Naomi finished her treatment she underwent testing and was relieved to discover there was still a prospect of successful fertility treatment, but potentially at a significant cost to her. Naomi and her family continued to make enquiries to see if this hurdle could be overcome, at which point she heard about the Childhood Cancer Fertility Project funded by the Irish Cancer Society.

Operated by the Merrion Fertility Clinic, the project aims to preserve fertility both for childhood and adolescent cancer patients about to undergo treatment, as well as for some female survivors under the age of 27 who were unable to access such services before their own treatment.

“There's nothing I want to do more in life than have my own kids and be a mom, so that's why it's always been such a big thing for me. At 17 you wouldn't normally be thinking about kids, but I knew that chemotherapy can cause fertility issues in the future," Naomi explained.

"I was bawling crying when I found out I was eligible to take part in this. There are actually no words to explain how grateful I am for this project.

“Thanks to this Childhood Cancer Fertility Project my egg freezing treatment was free of charge, so I cannot thank the Irish Cancer Society enough. I would encourage everyone to please get out there and support Daffodil Day on March 24. ”

On top of funding life-changing cancer research, the Irish Cancer Society provides vital services and supports to patients and their families across Kerry each year, including 930 free counselling sessions, 354 nights of in-home Night Nursing for cancer patients in their final days, and 500 free lifts to get patients safely to and from their hospital chemotherapy appointments in 2022.

SOLIDARITY

The Irish Cancer Society is calling on the public to take part in any way they can to show solidarity and support for anyone affected by cancer, and says that this year’s Daffodil Day is their most important yet.

“Every three minutes, someone in Ireland, hears the words "you have cancer"," Irish Cancer Society CEO, Averil Power, said.

"Cancer takes from us every day. It takes big days, little days, and everything in-between. It replaces them with treatment days and recovery days. But together, we have the power to take these days back from cancer. The Irish Cancer Society’s Daffodil Day is a day to give hope and raise vital funds so that one day, cancer can take no more.

“Daffodil Day is our most important fundraising event of the year with donations funding crucial supports including our Support Line, free counselling, our Night Nurses service, and financial support for families of children affected by cancer. The public’s generosity on Daffodil Day allows us to support life-changing cancer research.

“At the Irish Cancer Society we want to support every single person in Ireland affected by cancer. But we cannot do this without your help. We typically receive 3% of our funding from the State. It’s only because of the generous support of the Irish public we are able to provide our free services and fund life-changing cancer research projects. We ask everyone to please get out there and help us turn Ireland daffodil yellow once again on March 24.”

For more information about Daffodil Day visit www.cancer.ie/daffodilday.

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Fossa School says ‘bonjour’ to French classes

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Fossa National School is giving its pupils a headstart in learning a new language.

The school signed up to Language Sampler scheme as part of the ‘Say Yes to Languages’ initiative in primary schools organised by Post Primary languages Ireland in 2021. This is the school’s third year running the module.

Hélène Olivier-Courtney, the school’s French teacher and director of French For All Killarney School of French, covers ten schools in Kerry over the three terms.

The success of the initiative relies on an all-school approach and the active involvement of class teachers and management.

“The whole staff in Fossa certainly helped make this new journey a special and enjoyable experience for the children as we learnt French through art, songs, games and food tasting! This year, we also organised a catwalk on our last day. Our sixth-class students will have such a head start before secondary school and most importantly will have develop curiosity interest and love for the language,” said Hélène.

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Opinion: Silent majority needs to stand up and call out far-right hate

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By Chris Davies

Last Friday’s Dublin Riots should not have come as a surprise to anyone. It has been bubbling under the surface of Irish society for a good number of years now. The actions of a small minority last week was a culmination of years of racism, hatred and misinformation shared online by far-right groups.

Late on Friday night a disturbing WhatsApp voice note was doing the rounds on social media where a far-right actor could clearly be heard encouraging violence on the streets of Dublin. 

“’Seven o’clock, be in town. Everyone bally up, tool up…Any foreigner, just kill them”

Watching the Riots unfold on social media brought me back to when I was working in Dublin a number of years back. My morning commute from Skerries to the city centre involved a dart to Connolly Station followed by a short trip on the Luas to the Jervis. Every week, without fail, I would witness at least one racial slur or attack on someone who didn’t fit the narrow minded view of what an Irish person should look, dress or talk like. I don’t know if it is the eerie silence of public transport that seems to amplify the situation, but that’s where I found it to be most common. The abuse was usually perpetrated by a group of youths or someone who was clearly under the influence of drink or drugs. The victims were always of colour, often dressed smartly enough to presume they were on their way, or coming from work. A far cry from the perpetrators who you could tell were roaming aimlessly around the city looking for trouble.

While shameful to admit, I would often look on and watch the abuse unfold, only to spend the rest of my work day thinking about the poor person who was told to “F*&K off back to your own country”. I would sit at my desk questioning why I didn’t step in and say something. There were one or two occasions where I did step in and call it out, but not nearly often enough.  

This disgusting behaviour is much more visible in our cities. Since moving back to Killarney I wouldn’t witness as much direct abuse on the streets but working with the Killarney Advertiser I would be tuned in to local news and some of the comments I read on our social platforms are far worse than anything I witnessed during my time in Dublin.  

There is a significant group of people in Ireland that I would call the ‘silent majority’. We are not as outspoken on issues we care about. We tend to observe and consume the news quietly, and only speak of our support or disgust on certain issues in close circles, too afraid we might offend someone. The problem with this is that we are leaving these far-right groups unchallenged, to become louder, more aggressive and more hostile as seen last week. 

The past week Sinn Fein and the Social Democrats have been busy in the media expressing no confidence in Justice Minister Helen McEntee and Garda Commissioner Drew Harris but I would suggest that there is a large percentage of the Irish population that bears some of the responsibility. We witness racism in our communities and online every day and we need to start speaking up and calling it out. 

On the issue of immigration in Killarney, there is no doubt resources are being stretched and our tourism industry is suffering as a result of an influx of immigration. Locals have also raised concerns in relation to the placement of so many male international protection applicants in one setting and we only have to look back on the incident in Hotel Killarney last year where a number of men were involved in a harrowing stabbing incident to see how that played out.  

However, being concerned around immigration is not the same as anti-immigration. It is important to raise these issues with local representatives and Kerry TD’s but also to separate ourselves from far-right groups who are only interested in encouraging violence.  

The anarchy we witnessed last week should never be the answer and research shows it is completely unnecessary. Harvard University have looked at hundreds of protests over the last century, and found that non-violent campaigns are twice as likely to achieve their goals as violent campaigns and that it only takes around 3.5% of the population actively participating in the protests to ensure serious political change.

Let’s continue to protest peacefully for issues we believe in, but stand up and speak out against people and movements in our community that incite hate and violence. 

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