Mother with severe cancer needs rare medicine from UK

A fundraising breakfast is to be held this Thursday, April 6, in Hotel Castlepollard (€10), from 9.30am.

A courageous young mother from north Westmeath needs to raise money to buy a life saving drug not available in Ireland.

Claire Graham, one of the Ginnells from Ballymanus, was diagnosed last year with an aggressive form of breast cancer.

Her only hope is a drug called Pembrolizumab and then Avastin – available in the UK but not in Ireland.

For the last year Claire has been receiving treatment for her cancer, undergoing both chemotherapy and radiation, quite discreetly because she has also been nursing her baby through his own fight against cancer.

“No one has known about Claire and her fight against cancer because she was being an amazing and courageous mother to her son Harley, who was diagnosed with Retinoblastoma,” said Helen Ginnell, Claire’s sister-in-law and best friend since childhood.

“Claire has Triple Negative Breast Cancer. Three months after she was diagnosed, Harley was diagnosed with cancer in his eye.

"Only six children a year are diagnosed with this and it was Claire that spotted there was something wrong.

“She mentioned it to the nurse, who told her to mention it to the GP. It was a tumour that was found in the nick of time. Little Harley, who was never sick, never a single symptom, could have died and Claire spotted it.

“His eye was removed and he has a tiny prosthetic eye and never a bother on him, he’s just a wonderful two-year-old,” said Helen.

“So not only did Claire have to face her own chemotherapy last year, she had to be a brave, loving mum that filled her entire days caring for her sick baby and helping him through his fight against cancer.”

Claire’s first indication that she was unwell was a pain in her side. When she went to the GP he found the lump and referred her to St James’s Hospital.

"By Christmas of last year, Claire should have been coming to an end of her treatment but she began having headaches.

“Claire knew it was connected to the breast cancer,” said Helen, “and while many were saying it might be a virus, she kept asking that it be checked and when she secured an MRI, her fears were confirmed – the cancer had spread to her brain.”

Claire, a business manager, now lives in Dublin with her husband Declan, who works at St James’s.

The charity Verrico took her to England to see a consultant called Professor Justin Stebbings.

“Claire was in an online support group for women with this form of cancer, many of them living in the UK.

"They connected Claire to the charity and from there Claire was given a consultation.

"The consultant said the drugs will work and will treat Claire, but we do not have them in Ireland, so we have to get the money for Claire,” said Helen.

One of the women who met Claire has set up a crowd funding page which has received support from David Gold, owner of West Ham United, and Sally Dynevor, who plays Sally Webster from Coronation Street.

See justgiving.com and search for ClaireGraham.

A fundraising breakfast is to be held on Thursday in Hotel Castlepollard (€10), from 9.30am.