Cork woman completes gruelling challenge in aid of cancer charities

Gemma Coffey was just a week shy of her 28th birthday when she received a life-changing diagnosis – a brain tumour.

After a long road to recovery, she decided to take on a challenge in honour of the charities who supported her through that time – climbing the peaks of three of Ireland’s highest mountains in just three days.

It was December, 2022, and the Mitchelstown woman had been suffering from tinnitus.

“I had been to the doctor and they couldn’t see anything wrong with my ear,” she recalls. “At the time, I was working in a pharmacy in Fermoy and there was an audiologist who used to come into us, so I said it to him.”

The audiologist tested Gemma’s ear and advised that she get a referral to an ENT. It was after this specialist appointment that Gemma received shocking news – during a scan of her ear to investigate the tinnitus, a tumour had been discovered in her brain.

Completely unrelated to her tinnitus, the tumour was not causing any symptoms, but if it hadn’t been for the ear condition, Gemma’s diagnosis could have come too late.

“[The neurosurgeon said] that if they hadn’t caught the tumour in the ear scan, what probably would have started happening would have been seizures down the line. And that would have probably been my first indication that something was wrong, but it would have been a lot more progressed at that stage.”

What followed was a wait for a biopsy followed by a treatment plan. Gemma took solace in her local hurling club, Ballygiblin, while she endured the wait.

“They were in an All-Ireland final that January, and I’ve never had so many nights out as I did following the matches! Nobody knew what was going on with myself, but we had great community and it was a great distraction.”

Gemma had six weeks of radiation – “Monday to Friday, so I had to be up there every day for that” - followed by 36 weeks of six-week chemotherapy blocks. It was a gruelling journey, but she is grateful for the support she received.

“There were tough days and I was unwell at times,” Gemma remembers. “But I was very lucky. I was living at home with my mother and she was very good. She was driving me, she was cooking for me, she’d do my washing. So there was no pressure on me, I could take my time and give myself a chance to recover.”

Although Gemma’s tumour couldn’t be fully removed due to its location in her brain, it is now stable. “They’re just scanning me every six months,” she says, “keeping an eye on it.”

Gemma felt well enough to take on a new challenge – one that most people would baulk at, but which, for the Cork woman, paled in comparison to her cancer battle.

Over the May bank holiday weekend, Gemma climbed three of Ireland’s highest mountains – Croagh Patrick, Carrauntoohil, and Galtee Mór - over three consecutive days to raise funds for the three charities that supported her back to health.

“I picked the three charities because I had interactions with all of them during my treatment,” Gemma explains. “I went to Cork ARC Cancer Support House for counselling and they were fantastic. The Irish Cancer Society were very good for information and they do research into different types of cancer and tumours. And then the final cause is the Breeda McGrath Memorial Fund at CUH.”

The Breeda McGrath Memorial Fund was set up to support patients of the Dunmanway Cancer Services Day Unit, where Gemma received her treatment. The Fund provides financial support for those undergoing cancer treatment, in recognition of the fact that many patients take a huge hit to their earnings during an already difficult time.

“It can impact you financially,” says Gemma, “between having to be out of work for treatment, having to park, fuel costs of getting up and down to hospital, all that.” The Fund was established by the McGrath and Leonard families in 2018 in memory of Limerick woman Breeda, who died that year at 50 years of age.

Gemma has her boyfriend of ten years, James Magner, to thank – or perhaps blame! - for the idea of a Three Peaks Challenge.

“During covid, when things were starting to open back up again, we started doing a bit of hiking... But then I got sick and I wasn’t able to do that kind of stuff. I had done a bit of road running, and a half marathon, and I knew I wanted to raise funds for the charities. So I was saying to my boyfriend that I’d sign up for a marathon. But he was like, ‘would you not do something different?’ And it was his idea to do the Three Peaks.”

As the challenge was his idea, Gemma persuaded James to accompany her in scaling the Three Peaks and they spent the winter training in miserable conditions.

“We’ve had some horrible days,” she said. “There have been hikes that we’ve done where it’s been so cold that we literally just couldn’t stop!”

Gemma and James travelled to Mayo on the Thursday before the bank holiday weekend, ahead of scaling Croagh Patrick on the Friday. They then travelled to Killarney to climb Carrauntouhil on Saturday, before returning home to Cork to conclude the challenge at their local peak of Galtee Mór on Sunday. That evening, Gemma received a well-deserved hero’s welcome in her local, Walsh’s Bar.

“It went so well. We were really lucky with the weather and had it dry for all three mountains, albeit Galtee Mór was foggy. We had a great turnout for the after-party and it was amazing to see the community support behind the challenge. Despite my tired legs, we danced the night away! I woke up the next day sore, stuff and immensely proud of being able to complete this challenge with the help and donations of all the amazing people around me!”

Gemma has set up an iDonate page, with all money raised to be split evenly between her three chosen charities. She undertook the Three Peaks Challenge not just for the charities, but in recognition and gratitude for everyone at the Cork University Hospital, Dunmanway Day Unit and the Glandore Radiation Centre involved in her care.

“Doing this has been for the charities who helped me, but it’s also a nod to all the healthcare workers who got me fit enough to take on a challenge like this.”

Donate to Gemma’s fundraiser for Cork ARC Cancer Support House, Irish Cancer Society and the Breeda McGrath Memorial Fund via https://www.idonate.ie/fundraiser/gemmacoffey