Almost €80k raised for 6-year-old Darragh after suspected broken nose led to a cancer diagnosis

Almost €80,000 has been donated to help fund cancer care for a six-year-old boy from Blarney whose suspected broken nose led to a cancer diagnosis.

Last summer, Darragh Foley developed a bump on his nose that was first treated as a broken nose and re-set into position.

But after bruising went down and the nose still looked broken, a doctor in Cork’s South Infirmary ordered an ultrasound and MRI which showed a mass on his nose.

Three days after a biopsy was done, he was diagnosed with a soft tissue cancer called rhabdomyosarcoma — a very aggressive form of cancer that can be resistant to chemotherapy.

He is now undergoing 18 months of chemotherapy and will also need seven weeks of radiotherapy, targeting his nose as well as lymph nodes in his neck.

Because some of the therapy, known as proton therapy, isn’t available in Ireland, he needs to go to Manchester for some treatment.

Along with Blarney GAA and Camogie Club, Darragh’s parents Clare and Vincent set up a GoFundMe account for Darragh on December 22. Since then, 1,100 people have donated €79,081 of the €80,00 target.

As well as helping other children like Darragh, the money raised will also help towards the care of his older brother James, 8, who was born with Down syndrome and had open heart surgery at four months old.

He had to get a soft plastic percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) feeding tube placed directly through his abdominal wall into his stomach last year because of permanent lung damage due to silent aspiration.

This is where food, liquids, or stomach acid enter a person’s windpipe and lungs without triggering the usual cough reflex.

In a statement on the page, the family said: “We have set up this page to help our family with the expenses of cancer treatment while also caring for another child with additional needs.

“We have only been able to get to this point in treatment with amazing help from our friends and support from different charities.

“We have been so lucky to receive help from Aoibheann’s Pink Tie, The Gavin Glynn Foundation, Bumbleance, Cork City Hospital Children’s Club, Irish Cancer Society and Hand in Hand.”