FOUR sisters who raffled off their Donegal home have presented a chunk of the profits to the hospital they credit for giving their mother a precious extra 18 months.
Susan Gallagher and her sisters Marcia, Johanne and Dorothy lost both their parents, Ben and Lyndell, in the space of two months in 2018.
According to the sisters Beaumont Hospital in Dublin gave their mother an extra year and a half with them thanks to the surgery she received following a brain tumour.
As part of their inheritance they were left the family farmhouse in Bruckless. But instead of selling it, they decided to put the property up as first prize in a draw with some of the profits going to the hospital.
Susan Gallagher said, “Mum was extremely brave and took the surgery – chemotherapy and radiation treatment – offered by the amazing team in Beaumont and University Hospital Galway. She was given a year to live but managed to stay with us for 18 months in all.”
In happier times…Ben and Lyndall in whose memory the money has been donated.
Recently three of the four sisters travelled to Dublin to hand over a cheque for €26,414 to the neurosurgical team.
They met with consultant neurosurgeon Stephen McNally who had carried out the craniotomy on their mother. Also on hand to present the donation was neurosurgery department clinical nurse manager Eloise Cowie.
“We had a lovely day and it was wonderful to meet Dr McNally,” said Susan.
“He actually remembered mum which was really nice. Before her surgery mum remarked that he was very handsome so I told him this and his face went bright red. It was a very poignant day but also a lovely day for us all.”
According to Beaumont the money will have a big impact and will undoubtedly save lives.
“We are very happy with the outcome and with the donation because it was one of our big objectives,” added Susan.
The house in Bruckless was won by London couple Robert and Valeria Duncan.
Robert Duncan, wife Valeria and their son Ben. The family were the lucky winners of the beautiful farmhouse in Bruckless along with £50,000 cash.
Speaking to the Donegal News after receiving the good news, Robert said he never for one moment expected his ticket to be drawn.
“I saw this Irish number coming up on my phone and because I work in technology, you do get unusual calls from time to time. But you don’t normally pick up because who is going to be calling you at that time of night? But it rung two or three times until I answered.
“We were just utterly shocked because you never really expect to win these things. You think of it more as being for charity,” he said.
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Posted: 7:00 pm October 17, 2021