Offaly family ‘blown away’ by support for Fiadh

The family of a five-year-old girl with strong Offaly roots is hoping to travel to the United States for life saving treatment aimed at keeping her childhood cancer at bay after a massive fundraising campaign which raised 85% of its €400,000 target in just six days.

Little Fiadh Ronan has captured the hearts of the nation over the past week after her parents, Frank Ronan from Kerry and Anne Marie Dempsey from Killellery in Geashill set up a GoFundMe campaign to fund a clinical trial which they hope will prolong the life of their precious eldest child.

The Ronan's happy family life came crashing down in October 2023 when Fiadh was diagnosed with a very rare form of childhood cancer, Stage 4 High-Risk Neuroblastoma. Devastatingly, the disease has a very high relapse rate with limited treatment options if relapse does occurs.

As well as receiving huge support from the local community in Abbeydorney, Kerry, where the Ronans have made their home, Anne Marie Dempsey says she is “blown away” by the huge support which has also come from her home county of Offaly.

Anne Marie is the daughter of well-known Geashill dairy farmer, Ger Dempsey and his wife, Mary, who is a native of Taughmaconnell in South Roscommon and was a former employee of the HSE, based in the Midland Regional Hospital in Portlaoise. She has three sisters, Fiona, Aoife and Sarah and a brother, Niall.

The Dempsey family are steeped in Offaly GAA, with one of Anne Marie's sisters, Fiona, a member of the Offaly ladies GAA team and her brother, Niall playing club football with Raheen, Another sister, Aoife, is engaged to Eoin Carroll from Cappincur GAA who retired from inter-county football with Offaly at the end of last year.

Two of Anne Marie's first cousins, Matt and David Dempsey play club football with Ballycommon, while another cousin, Sinead Moore, is a member of the Offaly camogie panel,

The tight-knit GAA community in Offaly and right across the country has been lending its support to the GoFundMe campaign for Fiadh Ronan in a myriad of ways over the past week. As well as a host of former and current GAA stars posting online messages of support, clubs have also been organising their own fundraising events. Among the events organised locally was a bag packing fundraiser in Dunnes Stores by Cappincur GAA, and Killeigh Senior men's team also held a fundraiser and donated the match fee from their senior league game last Sunday to the campaign.

Among the many events planned over the coming days to ensure that the 'Together for Fiadh' campaign reaches its final target of €400,000 is a special fundraising day in Wolfgang Barbers in Tullamore from 10am to 5pm this Sunday, February 23, which will feature a guest appearance by local music sensations, Chasing Abbey, who will play an accoustic session at 3pm. Two local businesses, Conway & Co Coffee and Sami from Patrick Street Italian restaurant, Siroccos, will also take part in the event. Sami will be selling freshly-made pizzas from his stand which will be set up outside Wolfgang Barbers throughout the day on Sunday, while Conway & Co will be selling coffees and pastries. All proceeds from the event will go directly to 'Together for Fiadh.'

To make a contribution to the campaign to send Fiadh Ronan to the United States for life-saving treatment go to : https://www.gofundme.com/f/together-for-fiadh