Posted by Introducing Mags from Cork.
Where to Start ? Through the Lymphoma Coalition I have been introduced to Michael & Jan Rynne’s who are the founders of CLL Ireland and fellow advocates https://clli.ie/ we started communicating a few months ago with similar views about how we can help cancer patients in Ireland. During our discussions Michael introducded me to Mags McCarthy in Cork, another like minded advocate who I had the pleasure of chatting to over the weekend.
Currently the Irish Republic have only limited Cancer Transplant Centres, two in Dublin and one in Galway. This means that cancer patients from areas like Cork, Kerry, Limerick, Donegal have to travel to Dublin or Galway to get treatment if they are selected for a transplant. Otherwise the HSE pay for treatment overseas where available. The South West Transplant Centre was approved over 20 years ago but has yet to commence building.
Some links to Ms McCarthy http://www.magsmccarthy.com/
We are helping Mags to approach as many government minister as possible to have them present at this meeting. I have been asked to attend this meeting with a view to speaking at the event which I am honored and privileged to accept. Mag’s has drafted an e-mail for politicians and all we are asking is for our viewers in Ireland to send the e-mail to their local politician. HLAI have over 17,600 viewers in Ireland and your voices need to be heard, please copy the below mail and e-mail please
“Dear Deputy,
I would be delighted to invite you to Leinster House on Wednesday, 7 October at 11:00am in the AV room for an important advocacy presentation supporting the establishment of a Stem Cell Transplant and Cellular Therapy Centre at Cork University Hospital.
We will be joined by leading Irish and international experts in stem cell transplantation and cellular therapy, alongside patient advocates, to highlight the urgent need to expand transplant capacity by building this stem cell transplant centre at CUH and improve access for patients in Cork/Kerry, Munster and nationally. The President of the European Bone Marrow transplant will be flying in from France to present on the day as well to support this along with Irish consultants. On video will also be the co-inventor of Car T Cell therapy Dr. Bruce Levine to also support what we are doing and give the latest advances on Car T Cell therapy which is amazing. Plans are already in place to build the transplant centre but it’s been ongoing for 20 years and it’s time now to deliver this critical infrastructure. We are highlighting this and bringing everyone together to support this.
Your attendance and support would be greatly appreciated.
Kind regards,
Mags McCarthy
Patient Advocate “
This is a link to her song Ring That Bell – Mags has partnered with world-renowned scientist Dr. Bruce Levine, a pioneer in cancer immunotherapy, to co-write a song that gives voice to cancer warriors and celebrates breakthroughs in treatment that are changing lives.
https://www.ringthatbellsong.com/#video
We have invited Margaret to write an article on our site prior to this meeting and will publish it when drafted. I will also update the site on Michael & Jan Rynne’s CLL Ireland https://clli.ie/ I hope to have Michael and Jan also write on our site in the next few weeks.
World Lymphoma Awareness Day will be the 15th of September and we will be promoting The Lymphoma Coalition again this year but that will be in our next post
Hodgkin’s Lymphoma Awareness Ireland 