The Irish Cancer Society are urging the public to take part in Daffodil Day today to support them in “race against time”.
The Irish Cancer Society wants Daffodil Day to be a reminder of the urgency to catch up on the detection of thousands of cancers remaining undiagnosed since the start of the pandemic.
It comes as an estimated 2,600 cancer diagnoses were missed in 2020 alone due to the Covid pandemic and catch up remains difficult due to demands on the health service.
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One brave woman wanted to cheer up other patients while on her own journey as a patient.
Marcia Miranda Faulkner dressed as the character Olaf from the film Frozen to St Vincent’s Hospital for a course of chemotherapy, wide smiles broke out.
Marcia was in the midst of planning her wedding to the love of her life Jimmy, and was diagnosed with stage-four ovarian and breast cancer in the space of a few months, Independent.ie reports.
Marcia first detected a lump on her neck in January 2021.
Marcia called her husband “the strength to get through it all” and the couple had their wedding in August in 2021, but just 15 days later, she had major surgery to remove her fallopian tubes and ovaries.
In a fantastic outcome, Marcia’s surgery was successful, and in October 2022 she started six sessions of chemotherapy for a tumour in her breast.
Determined to not let the circumstance affect her humour, Marcia, originally from Brazil, wanted to cheer up other patients.
Speaking to the Independent, Marcia said :“I felt like I was burning inside because of the chemotherapy but here I am on the outside dressed as a snowman. People thought I was crazy at the start but when I started to bring cookies and lollipops for people, everyone wanted to be there the same days as me,” she said.
“The second time I went in dressed up in a T-shirt that read: ‘Keep your hope alive’.
“My oncologist asked me what was behind what I was doing and I told him that it was because I passed the chemotherapy room before I ever started getting treatment and I could see the sadness on people’s faces. I was thinking of what I could do when I am in there to change the energy.
“I brought in chocolates and cookies just to try to bring a smile to people’s faces.
Marcia told the Independent: “My message to everyone was: ‘Don’t let this illness be bigger than the story you have already written.’ Fight for yourself and keep fighting because your story is amazing. This is not going to beat you,”
The Irish Cancer Society’s Daffodil Day takes place today, Friday, March 24. You can donate here.
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