Late Siobhan McCann’s family hands out £234k donations

Late Siobhan McCann’s family hands out £234k donations

23 October 2019

FAMILY and friends of the late Siobhan McCann donated a staggering £234,432 in her name to 

seven local charities and health groups last weekend.

The money was from a charity fund set up to raise funds for lifesaving treatment for the much loved Clanvaraghan woman who was a Gaelic footballer.

The donations went to cancer charities and health professionals who are helping people, children and young people live as well as possible with the disease.

Siobhan (26), passed away at her home surrounded by her family in May after receiving some of the immunotherapy treatment that the money was raised for.

The former senior ladies player with St John’s GAC, Drumnaquoile and the Dulwich Harps in London where she previously lived and worked, was diagnosed with colorectal cancer 13 months before she sadly lost her life.

News of her serious illness prompted a massive fundraising initiative by her friends through her home club, which was supported by other Gaelic clubs from all over Ireland and beyond.

One of the major initiatives St John’s organised in conjunction with Castlewellan GAC was a Ladies Sevens tournament last October.

A second tournament, involving 26 teams and won by Castlewellan GAC, was held at St John’s last Saturday. It was chosen as an appropriate event for Siobhan’s family and friends to donate the remainder of the money.

Her parents, Brendan and Geraldine McCann, donated the largest cheque of £101,232 to the MacDermott Unit and MacMillan Cancer at the Ulster Hospital in Dundonald.

The money will provide for 16 chemotherapy chairs costing £3,200 each, chair accessories such as patient tables and reading lights, nurses stools costing £352 each, three computers on wheels costing £4,500 each and 18 screens costing £1,290 each.

The Cancer Fund for Children, which runs the Daisy Lodge centre in Newcastle amongst its other initiatives, received the second highest donation of £50,000.

Presented by Siobhan’s sister Grainne Feenan, this money will provide 40 families with a therapeutic break at Daisy Lodge costing £40,000 while the rest of the money will be spent funding a range of support sessions for young people living with cancer.

Grainne’s brother Ciaran presented a cheque for £37,500 to the Friends of the Cancer Centre based at Belfast City Hospital. 

This money will cover the costs of 500 complementary therapy sessions for patients and careers and 1,000 hours of work for nurse specialists who work at the centre.

Siobhan’s friends, Alan Henderson and Bria Cunningham, who led the fundraising activities along with Cormac McMullan, presented £14,750 to the Northern Ireland Hospice. 

The money will provide for 300 hours of specialist community hospice care for infants, children and adults to receive palliative care and three syringe drivers which deliver pain relief medication to patients.

Friends Keavy O’Toole and Aimee Burns presented a £12,000 cheque to Castlewellan and Newcastle District Nurses to cover the costs of syringe 

drivers, suction machines and single and double bed sheets used in the treatment of local patients.

Siobhan’s fellow players, Tara Kilcoyne and Maeve Wylie from Dulwich Harps Girls GAC team, presented £11,000 to The Little Prince Trust which will provided 20 real hair wigs to children and young people who have lost their hair through cancer treatment.

Past St John’s GAC chairman, Rory McMullan and senior ladies team representative, Orla Murphy, presented £8,000 to Donard Family Practice. 

Proceeds from the sevens tournament and the commemorative Siobhan McCann shirt and charity raffle held on the night will also be donated to the Cancer Fund for Children.