LGFA Urge Clubs to Climb4Clare

 

The Ladies Gaelic Football Association and the Irish Cancer Society have announced that they are to work together again to help raise funds which will result in the introduction of the CLIMB® initiative in the Republic of Ireland. Climb® helps children that have a close family relative who has been diagnosed with cancer. The programme educates children as part of an enjoyable, sharing, interactive experience and provides a time for the children to come together to deal with their feelings.

 

Clare Clarke has been a member of staff in the Ladies Gaelic Football Association for no fewer than 11 years. She is a bright, vivacious character that will be known throughout the country for her good humour and commitment to the sport. Clare was diagnosed with breast cancer 5 years ago. The mother of 2 showed typical resolve and determination to overcome this disease and she triumphed. However, heartbreakingly, the cancer came back, and more aggressively, 2 years ago.

 

Clare found that there were no services available to help children that have a close family relative that has been diagnosed with cancer and that counselling was only available to children who were bereaved. This was not acceptable to Clare so she went out and found the CLIMB® initiative that is available in Northern Ireland, through Cancer Focus NI, and in various other countries around the world having been initiated in the USA. As a result of Clare’s work the Irish Cancer Society agreed to roll out the Climb® programme throughout the country in Cancer Care Centres. Clare, who is currently undergoing treatment, articulates how important this initiative is in this brief YouTube video.

 

[videofile]https://ladiesgaelic.ie/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Climb4Clare.mov[/videofile]

 

The Irish Cancer Society are asking clubs, throughout the country to organise a Climb4Clare. The Climb can be as simple as organising a 1 kilometre walk around a club pitch or any suitable area and if there is a hill on the path all the better. Participating clubs can also raise vital funds for themselves as they will be able to keep up to 50% of all monies raised.

 

The Irish Cancer Society and the LGFA combined successfully at the 2013 TG4 All Ireland Finals to raise over €20,000 for Action Breast Cancer setting a Guinness World Record along the way. This year attendees at the TG4 All Ireland Finals on September 28^th will also be able to donate money to this excellent cause by texting ‘CANCER’ to 50300.

 

Speaking about the launch of the initiative LGFA President Pat Quill said ‘This is a wonderful and very badly needed initiative. It is something that is badly needed in this country and it shocked us to find out that this wasn’t available up until now. We know, from our experiences with the Irish Cancer Society in 2013, that they are the perfect partners for this initiative and that our clubs will rally around this fantastic cause as they did a year ago. Clare is a fantastic character who, along with her family, has been through so much, CLIMB® can help to ensure that more families and especially young children will have an outlet on which they can rely.’

 

Information about the Climb4Clare can be found on www.ladiesgaelic.ie , on Facebook at www.facebook.com/Climb4Clare or follow on Twitter on @Climb4Clare.

 

All funding raised can be forwarded to CLIMB4CLARE, LGFA, Croke Park, Dublin 3 and this will all be deposited to the CLIMB Fund.

 

A donation page has been set up on www.idonate.ie/climb4clare and all donations are gratefully accepted.