€35k raised for young mother battling MND
By Aideen O'Flaherty
OVER €35,000 was raised at an event held in the Good Counsel GAA Club in Drimnagh on Saturday night for a young mother who’s battling Motor Neurone Disease (MND).
Thirty-six contestants took on The Kube in front of an audience of hundreds at the A Night for Roisin event, in order to raise funds for mother-of-three Roisin Foley (31), who was diagnosed with MND in September last year.
Roisin Foley with her daughters Rachel, Sadie and Rosie McCormack
Roisin, who is a past pupil of the Assumption Secondary School in Walkinstown, was diagnosed with the condition after she experienced a loss of power in her right hand which has now progressed to the stage where she has lost all fine motor skills in her hand, leaving her unable to write, tie shoelaces or button up clothes.
A Go Fund Me page was set up by Roisin’s aunty and uncle last February, which has raised nearly €30,000 in donations, and they then organised A Night for Roisin to raise funds so Roisin can get her house adapted as her condition progresses, and to cover any health costs.
A Night for Roisin was a roaring success, as 500 people attended the event and the 36 contestants battled it out in The Kube, by trying to solve set tasks that tested their physical and mental ability, intelligence and responsiveness.
Roisin’s aunty, Paula Ainscough, who was one of the event organisers, told The Echo: “It was absolutely amazing, there was a great turnout and we didn’t anticipate the amount of people who came.
“We couldn’t believe the show of support from the local community, from Roisin’s friends and from people we didn’t even know.”
Roisin, who has three daughters, Rachel (13), Sadie (6) and Rosie (5), said: “It was incredible, I couldn’t believe the turn-out and the size of the event.
“The money will help me modify my house, so it’s really taken a lot of stress away.”
While Roisin said she is “lucky” that her MND symptoms are progressing slowly, she has recently noticed that her voice has started slowing down in the evenings and that, as a result of the lower temperatures, her legs “are not moving as freely”.
Roisin has recently started banking her voice, so that when she loses her voice the communication system she will use will consist of recordings of her own voice, and has been able to afford it by using some of the money that was raised for her.
Her family are also hopeful that, if there is a medical breakthrough or a new procedure that may be able to treat MND in the near future, Roisin will be able to afford it using the money that was raised for her.
Roisin added: “I’d like to say massive thank you to everyone – to the people who donated, to the people who bought tickets and the contestants in The Kube – and to all my family members who worked so hard to organise the night for me.”
