Freya and GAA Club help raise €5k for cancer society
Paul Clemente from the Irish Cancer Society with Freya Fitzpatrick O'Doherty and Brian Kelly from Templeogue Synge Street GAA Club

Freya and GAA Club help raise €5k for cancer society

A CHEQUE for over €5,000 was presented to the Irish Cancer Society by members of Templeogue Synge Street GAA Club – including one young player who has beaten cancer – in Bushy Park last week.

The money was raised for the Irish Cancer Society as a result of the sale of bright pink hats to raise awareness of breast cancer, which Freya Fitzpatrick O’Doherty and Brian Kelly from the club wore when they handed over the cheque.

Freya, 16, was diagnosed with a brain tumour in 2018. She then underwent brain surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy.

The sporty teenager is now cancer free and proudly wore her GAA club’s pink hat for the handover of the cheque last week.

All of the hats – totalling 500 – were sold out in the space of a week last month, after they went on sale in the club for Breast Cancer Awareness Week.

The brightly coloured hats are embroidered with the Templeogue Synge Street GAA logo and the Breast Cancer Awareness symbol, and have now become a mainstay among players – with many training sessions in the club seeing players don their pink hats.

The idea for the hats came from some of the women on one of the club’s senior ladies’ teams last summer. The club decided to sell the hats last month to coincide with Breast Cancer Awareness Week.

“There was a huge appetite in the club to support the Irish Cancer Society,” said Brian Kelly, the GAA club’s PRO.

“We probably thought it would’ve taken a few weeks to sell the hats, but we sold out of the hats in a week.”

The club also circulated information about breast cancer among its members during the week when the hats were on sale, to highlight the importance of checking for the signs of the disease.

“The primary focus of the week was to share information related to breast cancer and distribute that information,” explained Mr Kelly.

“We felt very proud of our women’s team members who came up with the idea and brought it to us, and we’re proud of all of the teams for buying into it, and we’re proud of the membership that reached into their pockets and bought the hats.

“We’re equally proud of the important information that we shared about breast cancer and that the membership shared.”

For more information about breast cancer and other forms of cancer, visit the Irish Cancer Society’s website at cancer.ie

TAGS
Share This