I hope you are all keeping safe and well and enjoying a wonderful Christmas with your loved ones.

I am reaching out to send the warmest of wishes and a truly heartfelt thank you to every one of you for all of your support in 2023.

As mentioned in our newsletter as 2023 nears its close, we are once again reflecting on the year that has passed, and what an eventful year it has been for the Marie Keating Foundation. As always, there have been challenges we have had to navigate and changes to face, but ultimately our small but mighty team has achieved so much and worked incredibly hard to ensure we continued to support so many families around Ireland affected by cancer.

We could not do this work without all of you, our supporters, sponsors, partners, volunteers, and friends.

2023 was also a year that saw a lot of sadness particularly for the Keating family. The whole team and Board of the Marie Keating Foundation were devastated to learn of the tragic death of Ciaran Keating in July. Together with his family, Ciaran established the Foundation following the death of his mother Marie to breast cancer 25 years ago.

He is missed greatly, and our thoughts remain with his wife Annemarie, his children Ruairi, Conall and Ashling Marie, his father Gerry, his brothers Gerard, Gary, Ronan, his sister, our friend and colleague Linda and extended family and friends. May he Rest in Peace.

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The Marie Keating Foundation relies heavily on fundraising events and donations to support the vital cancer awareness and support services we provide to communities around Ireland. The demand for these services has continued to rise in 2023 as we all faced challenges such as the ongoing cost of living crisis, with more people in need of financial aid and support including the 45,000 people in Ireland diagnosed with Cancer every year.

We are seeing improvements in early diagnosis and survival rates in Ireland, and we will continue in our ongoing mission to improve these survival rates further by raising awareness and educating to support early detection, leading to better outcomes for cancer patients.

We have also been incredibly fortunate throughout the year to be able to connect and work with so many incredible patient ambassadors throughout our innovative and thought-provoking awareness campaigns, patient support groups and events.

Sadly, this year saw us face the loss of some of our patient ambassadors and friends to whom we would like to take this opportunity to pay tribute. Our thoughts and prayers go to their families and friends this Christmas – May they Rest in Peace.

Lisa Scott

Lisa was not only one of the stars of our #TalksBreastCancer Podcast series but also a much-loved member of our Positive Living community.

Evelyn Byrne

Evelyn was a valued contributor to our #TalksMelanoma podcast series where she shared her personal experience to help provide information and support to others.

Sonya Lynch

Sonya, we are grateful for the time you spent with us as a Community Nurse in 2017, inspirational in every way, you helped so many.

Angela Leach (née Cafferky)

Angela was a much-loved member of our Positive Living community and a friend of the Marie Keating Foundation.

Michael (Mick) Murphy

Mick took part in our powerful April Bowel Cancer Awareness campaign #NoRegrets where he shared his story with such honesty and openness with a goal of doing all he could to prevent others having to face a stage four cancer diagnosis.

Deirdre Staunton

Deirdre spent some time with our Positive Living community to support awareness of lung cancer and change people’s perceptions of people with lung cancer.

 

To our valued corporate sponsors and companies that helped to make our campaigns, programmes and events so successful, we would like to say a huge thank you.

Once more I would like to pay tribute to our colleague, Founder and Director of Fundraising, Linda Keating.

Linda, who has been a beacon of light and a driving force at the heart of the Foundation for 25 years will be stepping down from her day-to-day role within the Foundation in 2024. Linda has made such an impact on each and every person she has met throughout those 25 years and will be sorely missed. We will however continue to build on her incredible work and make her proud in the years to come. We are delighted that she will never be too far away as she intends to sit on the Board of the Foundation.

We have met so many incredible people and their families on a cancer journey. For each and every one of them who has reached out to our services, attended our support groups, shared their stories, listened to our podcasts or read our resources, thank you. We are always here for you so please continue to stay in touch.

And last but by no means least, it would be remiss of us not to mention all of you, our supporters and friends who continue to support our services, programmes and events on a daily basis.

From the bottom of our hearts, we would like to say a huge THANK YOU to everyone who has hosted a fundraiser, attended an event, read our newsletter, shared a post or link to our resources or shared awareness of our campaigns.

 

Our goal for 2024 is to continue to build on this year, support more people and their families on a cancer journey and connect with more communities. We can only do this with your continued support.

From all of us here at the Marie Keating Foundation we wish you and yours a very safe and happy Christmas and a healthy and peaceful New Year, and please know that if ever you or your family need us, we are here.

 

Best wishes,

Liz Yeates,

CEO, Marie Keating Foundation