Presentation to Oncology Unit

Last week staff at the Cavan General Hospital Oncology Unit were on hand to receive a cheque for €2,000 following a fundraising drive by one local family. “Daddy attended the oncology clinic here and in The Matter Hospital for almost five years,” Emily Griffith says of the motivation behind her fundraising drive.

Albert Griffith of Lisaholip, Garrymore, Ballinagh, passed away last August surrounded by his loving family. Emily’s efforts ended up raising €3,000, which was donated to the Oncology Unit, the St Vincent’s Ward in the Matter Hospital, Dublin and the Cavan Monaghan Palliative Care team.

The fundraiser took a few forms, with the bulk coming from collecting aluminium cans: “I started this because I saw how hard the nurses work, in here and in Dublin,” Emily tells.

“The palliative care team as well. The care they gave to my dad when he was sick was amazing. When I told my father what I was doing he said ‘Emmy, you will never get a ton of cans’. I said ‘you know me’ and he replied, ‘You will do it!’ and here we are now!”

Emily’s can collection came from family and friends. Christmas was a major boon, and a Facebook call out added to the stock pile: “A friend of the family, Willie Halliday, he attended the oncology unit here, he got some of his friends to help. I filled ton bags, brought them to the yard, emptied them out, went out with a magnet to take the steel cans out, then flattened them by driving over them in the tractor. It kept me fairly active,” Emily laughed.

The can collecting was just one part of the fundraiser: “My partner did some farm clearing and he cut up a load of timber. We then raffled it for the cause on Christmas week, with the bonus ball determining who got the prize. The winner was from Cornafean.”

Emily’s brother, Herbert, also made a gesture for the medical support teams: “He sold a heifer for Cavan-Monaghan Palliative Care. They were so good to us for the last 16 days of daddy’s life. The work they do is unreal. The auction was in Carrigallen Mart and Herbert handed over the cheque to Jimmy O’Donnell after that. The people who bought the heifer were so happy that the money was going to such a worthy cause.”