Daffodil Day takes place across the country tomorrow, Friday, 24th March.
It comes as an estimated 2,600 cancer diagnoses were missed in 2020 alone due to the Covid pandemic and catch up remains difficult due to demands on the health service.
The Irish Cancer Society will use Daffodil Day to fund its vital free services such as drives to and from cancer treatment, the Freephone Support Line and Daffodil Centres staffed by experienced cancer nurses, the Night Nursing service providing end of life care and counselling for anyone affected by cancer. Donations from the public will also provide funding for state-of-the-art cancer research and life-saving cancer trials.
Here we bring you a small selection of the events taking place across Wicklow tomorrow.
Coffee morning taking place at The Pavillion in Aughrim between 10.30am – 12pm
Fishers of Newtownmountkennedy will host a fashion show @ 10.30am. No booking is neccessary and you are invited to enjoy free tea/coffee while you enjoy the show.
Greystones Cancer Support are holding their coffee morning @ Killian House, Greystones where you can not only enjoy a cup of tea/coffee but you can grab yourself some freshly cut daffodils. 10.30am – 12.30pm
Enhanced Beauty, Arklow are holding a fundraiser for Arklow Cancer Support at The Olde Ship, Main Street Arklow. There is a monster Raffle taking place and a whole host of musicians taking part.
Brennanstown Riding School in Bray will host their coffee morning @11am on both Friday and Saturday mornings.
Glenview Hotel, Glen of the Downs are hosting a coffee morning. For every cup of coffee/tea purchased, the Glenview Hotel will match that amount. Keep your eye out for their Daffodil Display competition which always delivers some interesting displays.
Roundwood man Dave Wood is selling his Daffodil photographs with all proceeds from their sale going to Irish Cancer Society.
If you can’t make one of the many events taking place, why not join Ray Moloney of RJM Run Warriors for his Daffodil Day Hiit class live on zoom @ 9.15am! Donations can be made directly to Irish Cancer society on their website, facebook or via the Donate button above.
Averil Power, Chief Executive, Irish Cancer Society said “Our key message this Daffodil Day is that cancer needs more focus than ever before. There is now a race against time to find missed cancers so patients can begin treatment as soon as possible. We know that in 2020 alone, over 2,600 cancers went undetected due to Covid. We need every service in the Irish Cancer Society to be ready for the fact that there will be greater numbers of cancers detected at an advanced stage and others that are beyond curative treatment. The free counselling we provide, alongside our nurses who offer endless support and advice to families, and sadly, our Night Nursing service, will all be under increased pressure over the next year because of the impact of the pandemic on cancer services. We need the help of the public to ensure these services can withstand the increased demand on them.
“The earlier cancer is caught, the easier it is to treat, and the greater the person’s chances are of surviving the disease. The five-year survival for breast cancer for example is 94% at stage one and only 19% at stage four.”
“At the Irish Cancer Society we want to support every single person in Ireland affected by cancer. Over recent years and because of the public’s generosity, we have significantly increased investment in our services, in counselling and in cancer trials. We have also launched a free health check roadshow, Your Health Matters, which has visited communities across the country. But there is so much more that we need to do. We’re asking the public to rally around us to help us make this the biggest Daffodil Day ever, to ensure nobody in Ireland faces cancer alone.”
As well as donating at www.cancer.ie or volunteering to help fundraise this Daffodil Day, people can purchase items from the Daffodil Day online shop and take part in a Steps Challenge.
For more information about Daffodil Day visit www.Cancer.ie/DaffodilDay .
