This article is from page 1 of the 2011-04-12 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 1 JPG
A CLARE man is on the verge of helping to achieving the impossible – discovering a cure for cancer.
Doolin native Gerry Dunleavy has been informed by experts at the Cancer Centre of Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston that a cure for paediatric brain tumours is between 18 months and two years away.
This breakthrough has been made possible as a result of a large amount of research funding made avail- able to the institute by the Dunleavy Foundation. The foundation, which is based jointly in Doolin and Boston, was set up in 2002 following the death of Gerry’s son Michael as a result of a brain tumour. Eight-year-old Michael Dunleavy died on October 28, 2002, after losing his four-yearlong battle with brain cancer.
A number of annual fundraising events take place each year on both sides of the Atlantic, with the money raised donated to a number of child cancer research initiatives both in Boston and in Dublin.
“With all the money that has been raised by the Dunleavy Foundation, they have just been told that they will have a cure for paediatric brain tumours in the hospital within the next two years,” said Gerry’s sister, and Doolin coordinator of the Dunleavy Foundation, Mary O’Donoghue.