Daffodil Day 27th March 2015
Today is National Daffodil Day and the Irish Cancer Society will be raising funds and collecting donations and selling Daffodil brooches and flowers for the Irish Cancer Society, to raise money for the various hospices around the country.
There are nine inpatient hospices in Ireland who caters for patients with cancer. There are three in Dublin and the others are in Cork, Limerick, Galway, Sligo, Donegal and Kildare. The hospices cater for patients within these catchment areas and hospice care in Ireland is given in the form of home care in all counties.
The three hospices in Dublin are based in Raheny, Nassau Street and one in Blanchardstown. All the funds raised in Dublin today will go towards these three Hospices. So it will directly help people in the area.
Maria and Rosemary, two ladies I met selling these wonderful daffodils were selling the Daffodils on O’Connell Street. They were getting be great custom as well as collecting donations. They are amongst the many volunteers that have taken to the streets of Dublin today and volunteered their time to help patients with cancer and are making a change to many patients who are forced to live with this tragic disease.
Maria has been a volunteer for the last 27 years and said ‘she believes strongly in the cause and knows many who have suffered with the disease’. She dedicated a poem to one such friend in tribute to Daffodil Day.
Cancer affects one in three people in Ireland and an average of 30,000 new cases of cancer become known every year. It is believed that this number could rise up to 40,000 in the next five years. According to the National Cancer Registery of Ireland (NCRI) nearly 30,000 people were diagnosed with cancer in 2009 and 15, 500 of these were men and 14,500 were women.
But what is cancer? Cancer is a collective name for many related diseases, where cells begin to divide continuously and then multiply into contiguous tissues. The body’s cells grow and break up and new cells are formed as the body needs them. The cells die when new ones take their place. Cancer comes into existence when these dead cells survive and the body keeps on growing new cells. All these extra cells, with the body unable to control their order generation, are the cause for growths that turn into tumours.
Tumours can be malignant or benign. Malignant tumours spread through the body as they enter the nearby tissues, however benign tumours do not spread and are easier to remove. Benign brain tumours are very life threatening and much harder to remove due to their proximity to the brain.
The good news is cancer is treatable and statistics prove that 42% of men and 50% of woman survive for five or more years after being diagnosed. Between 1995-2009 an estimated 280,000 cancer patients survived their cancer. Cancer can be prevented by making lifestyle changes, by not smoking, eating cleaner food and nuts, some people even believe that drinking caffeine every day can prevent brain cancers.
The Irish Cancer Society was founded in 1963. It is the national charity in the Republic of Ireland dedicated to eliminating cancer as a major health problem, and improving the lives of those living with cancer. It is 95% financed by voluntary contributions from the public.’
If you pass one of the yellow breasted volunteers on the streets of Dublin today, buy a daffodil or a brooch, they are only €3 and it could make a difference to someone’s’ life. Or donate online here
