A Dublin Transition Year student with cancer had his dreams come true after he was treated to a private screening at the Stella Cinema.
Cormac McGarry is movie mad and during his time in chemo, he made stop motions with his phone to pass the time. The talented 16-year-old even makes his own sets and paints them by hand.
The South Dublin lad was impatiently waiting to see the latest Spiderman movie in cinema but was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma in August.
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He had to avoid seeing the flick as being in a cinema full of people could be life threatening.
The film fanatic's older sister Aobhinn told Dublin Live: “It was in his lungs and he missed out on a lot of school because he had to stay at home and isolate. He had a perforated bowel too - a complication in surgery which set us back a while.
“When you have cancer and are doing chemo, something like Covid can be life-threatening.
"He was very upset when he wasn’t able to see Spider-Man when it originally came out, because we all had set a goal that he would be finished by then, but because of a lot of medical complications along the way it still wasn’t safe.
“I originally emailed Stella and they were so kind. They gave us the whole cinema to ourselves completely free of charge, so it would be safe for Cormac to see Spider-Man."
Aoibhin and her family were overwhelmed with the cinema's act of kindness, and now they’re planning on recreating the experience in their home.
She said: “My family were completely unaware that I emailed Stella and everyone was over the moon when I told them.
“The staff were so friendly and accommodating, I almost wanted to cry when I saw how happy Cormac was because he’s so strong and he’s the one keeping the rest of us positive most of the time.
“He planned his TY work experience for ages because he really wants to be a filmmaker, he was meant to do something with a movie studio but he didn’t get the chance. He’s been making those movies, taught himself how to do it, painted all the sets.
“Our old playroom in our house was a mini-hospital because of all of his equipment but now he’s finished, we’re transforming it.
“We’re getting vintage movie posters, we've got a new projector and screen - as a symbol, we’d his feeding tube, medicines and everything in there but we’re making it into our own little Stella at home.
“Cormac has finished his chemo now and we are just waiting on one surgery so he doesn’t have to be fed with TPN any more. Once this is all over we will definitely be back to Stella.”
Amy O’Shaughnessy, the Box Office and Marketing Manager at Stella told Dublin Live: “The sister of a boy who was going through chemo got in touch to explain their situation and if you hear if someone wants to see a film, we’re all so passionate about films.
“So to hear someone can’t go and experience the cinema because of an illness is heart wrenching, so you just want to do whatever you can. Luckily, we could offer the cinema and we hope they had a wonderful experience.”
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