‘Tomorrow is Another Day’ song raises €3,000 for cancer research
By Hayden Moore
CANCER has struck Jennifer Lawlor’s family all her life, but when her 16-year-old nephew Luke began undergoing intense chemotherapy, she wrote a song about him to raise money for cancer research.
Luke Murtagh started losing his sight and the power in his legs during his chemotherapy treatment for leukaemia. Since the release of ‘Tomorrow is Another Day’, Jennifer has raised €3,000 in aid of cancer research for the Irish Cancer Society and Tallaght Hospital.
The Lawlor family from Bohernabreena are no strangers to the music industry as Jennifer once sold songs to artists in America, including to the hit TV Show ‘Nashville’. Her brother Joey Lee Lawlor has received some popularity nationwide with his Johnny Cash tribute act, Walk The Line.
Luke Murtagh, from Old Bawn, was diagnosed during the August Bank Holiday weekend in 2015 after going to A&E in Tallaght Hospital with a lump on his neck, suspecting it to be swollen glands.
When the doctors began running tests he was found to have Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia.
The Lawlor family has had a history of cancer, with Jennifer’s grandparents both passing away from the disease. Speaking to The Echo, Jennifer spoke about how the family were “blown away” and “devastated” about Luke’s shock diagnosis, before telling us about Luke undergoing chemotherapy treatment.
She said: “On the Thursday, he started the chemotherapy treatment. The leukaemia he has is so rare – something like only 65 people in Ireland have the type of leukaemia he has.
That first year of treatment was very intense for Luke because the chemotherapy was very powerful. It really hit him hard and he started to lose the power in his legs, and losing his sight.”
Jennifer wrote the song about him during this dark period, and after she sent Luke the lyrics he told her that he “loved it” but was concerned that his mother Noelle would cry.
She continued: “That’s the way he is, he’s never once complained or been in a bad mood throughout this – even when he’d be hanging out of a trolley sick from the treatment.
“But he’s always worried and concerned about what his mam is feeling and how other people are – he’s a fantastic child and so positive-thinking.”
Gone on to study accounting
After the first year of chemotherapy treatment, they reduced Luke’s dosage so he could get some normalcy back into his life, and now aged 20, he has gone on to study accounting in Maynooth University, and even begun driving.
Jennifer threw a launch party for the single ‘Tomorrow is Another Day’ last week in the Merry Ploughboy pub, but it was bittersweet as Luke couldn’t attend the event because of ongoing treatment.
She finished: “We raised around €400 on the night through a singing competition and a raffle. It was fantastic because about 50 people showed up, but Luke couldn’t be there because he actually had to head into Tallaght hospital to receive chemotherapy that day.”
To date Luke and his family have raised €4,000 through a Shave or Dye fundraiser, and €3,000 with the single ‘Tomorrow is Another Day’ – which can be purchased on iTunes for €1 in aid of cancer research.
