Mayo community comes together to support local woman battling cancer

Carney's Bar & Restaurant in Ballinrobe will be auctioning their chef in support of local lady Shannon McDonald who is battling cancer.

In an attempt to raise funds for her treatment, the Ballinrobe business will be auctioning their chef Lee Byrne to throw a dinner party in the home of one lucky raffle winner; he will even clean up afterwards!

The auction will take place at McDonald Motors, Ballinrobe, tomorrow from 11am-1pm as part of their 50th anniversary celebrations.

All ticket proceeds will go towards getting local woman Shannon McDonald to Germany for cancer treatment.

Additionally, ‘Believe in Ballinrobe’ has organised a raffle as part of ‘#ballinrobesweekforshannon’.

Fundraising for the week began yesterday in the town, with raffles tickets available in all local businesses. There will also be a bucket collection in the town on March 1.

The organisers wrote, ‘as a community, let's try and get the sum of €100,000 over the line asap to get Shannon her much-needed treatment’.

The amazing raffle prizes have been donated from businesses within the community, and the draw will take place March 2nd.

With the GoFundMe page currently at €62,000, this auction hopes to be a final drive to reach the €100,000 goal.

Ms McDonald was originally diagnosed with breast cancer in 2020, following which she began chemo and radiotherapy. The 30-year-old also underwent surgery to remove the breast & lymph nodes from the left-hand side.

In 2021 the cancer had spread near the oesophagus, and just last year they found the cancer had spread again this time along the collarbone and neck area.

Despite receiving targeted treatment called Herceptin through her journey, unfortunately the cancer has now reached stage four and is terminal.

The mother of 8-year-old Alanna has started treatment in Galway University Hospital to stabilise the cancer, but was told it is non-curable in Ireland, and so she will not be able to receive any more radiotherapy. 

The GoFundMe page organiser, and sister of Ms McDonald, wrote ‘Shannon is ready for the fight of her life and we as a family are not willing to give up on her’.

The family are in contact with consultants and doctors in Germany, Holland and Spain about alternative treatment plans.

‘They seem positive & ready to help Shannon in this fight’ wrote Mariah McDonald. 

To travel and undergo treatment abroad will be very expensive and so the family has asked for the help of the community, big or small.

To donate, see the GoFundMe page ‘Help Shannon beat Cancer’.