Tipperary 9-year-old Jack does fundraiser in honour of ‘amazing’ mum lost to cancer
Primary school pupil Jack Joyce has embarked on a challenge to walk 9,000 steps each day in March to raise funds for cancer research in honour of his late mum Audrey.
Cahir local Jack took on the Irish Cancer Society’s steps challenge, which sees people doing 9,000 steps each day in the month of Daffodil Day on March 25 to commemorate the 9,000 lives lost to cancer each year, with the support of his dad Dermot.
The Joyces lost their beloved wife and mother Audrey to breast cancer in June of last year, and Jack saw the challenge as the perfect way to take part and take back from cancer as the charity is asking people to do for its Daffodil Day fundraiser this year.
Explaining his reason for taking part, brave Jack said: “I’m doing this to raise money for the Irish Cancer Society, so they can help to make sure no other kid has to put up with what I have had to put up with. I have loads of memories of me and mum so I’m doing the walk because I want to bring the memories of her all to the one place; and she is never gone, she is still in my heart and my head.
“I’d like to give a big shout out to some people who have helped me: my teacher Ms Hanly, my friends Dean and Jake and some of my school friends, my cousins, my aunty Therese, my uncle Patrick, and a few others, and a big Thank You to all the people who are donating to my fundraiser.”
Jack’s dad Dermot said: “Audrey was an amazing lady who always made time for everyone. She had an incredible strength of character, and bore her illness with great dignity right to the very end, even amid all the difficulty of the pandemic.
“I can’t put into words how proud I am of Jack, not just for doing this fundraiser in her memory but for how he has handled everything through such a difficult time, and how he cared for and helped his mum when she was unwell. He really is my little hero.”
The Joyces will be among thousands of fundraisers taking part to take back from cancer this Daffodil Day, so that one day cancer will take no more.
As Daffodil Day returns to the streets of Ireland for the first time since 2019 on March 25, the Irish Cancer Society is calling on the public to take part in any way they can to show solidarity and support for anyone affected by cancer.
As well as donating at Cancer.ie and volunteering to help fundraise, they can purchase items from the Daffodil Day online shop and take part in a steps challenge.
Cancer takes so much from so many, this Daffodil Day we are taking back from cancer so that one day cancer can take no more.
You make that happen.
Contact the Irish Cancer Society Support Line
If you have worries or concerns about cancer, you can speak confidentially to an Irish Cancer Society Cancer Nurse through the Freephone Support Line on 1800 200 700.
Monday to Friday, 9.00am - 5.00pm
For more information
Phone
1800 200 700
