‘Go all in this Daffodil Day’ plead Mayo mother and daughter diagnosed with cancer months apart

Mother and daughter Margaret and Sinéad Walsh have urged communities across Ireland to go all out on this Daffodil day to raise funds for cancer patients.

Just eight months after her 13-year-old daughter, Sinéad, was diagnosed with leukemia, Margaret Walsh from Hollymount received her own breast cancer diagnosis.

The pair had urged communities from every county in Ireland to turn daffodil yellow on Daffodil Day, March 22nd and go all in to raise vital funds and give hope to cancer patients.

Speaking at the Irish Cancer Society’s Daffodil Day launch on Friday, cancer survivor Margaret Walsh said she had a motherly instinct and knew in her ‘heart of hearts’ that her daughter had leukemia, ‘even before the doctors confirmed it’. 

Ms Walsh said telling the rest of the family about Sinéad’s diagnosis was ‘just heartbreaking’. 

Speaking upon her own diagnosis, which came shortly after Sinéad began treatment, she said: “I just remember thinking I don’t have time for cancer, I have a child to get better”.

Ms Walsh sang praise for the Irish Cancer Society, and said her and her family ‘wouldn’t be where [they] are today’ without them. 

Pictured at the launch of Daffodil Day 2024 were, from left: MC Brendan Courtney, Sinead Walsh, Joseph Walsh, Margaret Walsh, Brendan Walsh, Sarah Walsh, Ciara Walsh and Averil Power, CEO, Irish Cancer Society CEO.

“Daffodil Day means that families like mine have invaluable help in carrying the weight of a cancer diagnosis, and in our case two cancer diagnoses” she explained.

The Hollymount woman describe the free support they received as a ‘lifeline’.

Supports include free counselling, grants to help with the diagnosis, and ‘an incredible’ family camp, which Ms Walsh said allowed her family ‘to park cancer for a weekend and concentrate on being together as a family’.

Ms Walsh said none of these ‘incredible, vital supports would exist without the public’s generosity on Daffodil Day’. She said she cannot ‘fathom’ how different their experience would have been without them.

CEO, Irish Cancer Society, Averil Power explained that all of these essential services ‘are fueled by fundraising’ and could not be provided without the public’s generosity.

She said: “Every three minutes someone in Ireland hears the words ‘you’ve got cancer.’ There isn’t a family that hasn’t felt the devastating impact of a cancer diagnosis. But no matter what cancer brings, the Irish Cancer Society is here to help.”

Ms Walsh pleaded with the public to ‘go all in against cancer this Daffodil Day to give hope to every family facing this disease in Ireland’.

"The more we raise on Daffodil Day, the more we can do.” said Ms Power. 

Ms Power asked the public to donate this Daffodil Day so that the organisation can fund ‘life-saving research’ and ‘ensure all cancer survivors have the support they need to live life to the full’.

Daffodil Day takes place on Friday, March 22. You can learn more on the Irish Cancer Society website.