DAFFODIL DAY
This year’s Daffodil Day is on Friday 24th March - The Irish Cancer Society provide many essential services. Night Nursing is a fantastic service made available to people with cancer who are seriously ill at home. This vital support is invaluable to the person who wishes to remain at home being cared for by their family. The Irish Cancer Society provides the only night time care service for cancer patients in their own homes. Explaining why the service is so important local night nurse Catriona Murray said:" It is a privilege and honour to be with a patient and family at such a precious time. I try to bring a sense of calmness, sensitivity, kindness and understanding with caring and comfort for the patients. The relief and reassurance expressed by families in the knowledge that their loved one is comfortable is evidence of the invaluable service of Night Nursing. Daffodil Day means that we can provide this free service to cancer patients". It is so important that we raise as much money as possible in order to continue to provide and expand this service and others. Unfortunately, one in three of us will be diagnosed with cancer in our lifetime. Survival rates are on the increase due to further advancement in research. Callers to our Cancer Nurseline (1800 200 700) tell us that talking with a cancer nurse really reduced their anxiety and gave them hope about their situation.
The volunteer drivers are there to take you to and from your chemotherapy appointments, and counselling is available to you in your local area through our affiliated cancer support centres. It is known that 40% of cancers can be prevented. Working with many groups across the country, making people more aware , and giving practical supports to people helps to reduce the number of people getting cancer in the first place by early detection. Every 15minutes someone hears the words 'you have cancer Supporting Cancer research will save lives. Cancer incidence in Ireland is expected to double over the next 20 years. Hence research is needed to identify risk factors, to better understand how cancer develops, and to develop improved treatments and ultimately better outcomes for patients. All your donations we are able to support this vital work.
Ballybay Daffodil Day has being very successful in raising huge amounts of money over the last 25 years. The people of Ballybay and surrounding areas have always generously supported this worthy cause. This would not be possible without our team of Volunteers. This year we are short 10 people to help out either on the Friday or Saturday morning, so please contact me on the number below if you think you could help out for an hour or so. We hope you can donate whatever you can afford to this worthy cause, or help out in any way, either by Volunteering to stand at collection points, supplying fresh daffodils to the various collection points, or arranging with us to collect from your home. If you are in town, why not call in to the Coffee morning/Cake sale( next door to The Ballybay Inn) from 10am to 2pm, or if you want to get involved by baking some cakes or scones for sale at the Coffee morning.
Ballybay Co-Ordinators Joe and Dolores Maguire can be contacted on 0429741717 or 0868340501.
