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A teenager with a brain tumour needs to raise €100,000 by the end of the month to pay for potentially life saving surgery under the guidance of neurosurgeons in the US.
Aaron McMahon from Shanagarry, Co Cork has been told that no more can be done for him in Ireland. The 17 year old had previously travelled to Germany for proton treatment. Now a neurosurgeon in the US has said that he can attempt to remove the tumour but he needs the operation to be fully funded by April 30th.
Aaron says that he just wants a chance at life. “It is not hard to stay positive. If I feel sorry for myself I will be upset all the time. I have got to keep smiling and laughing. I find a lot of things funny. I feel like I am always tired. I feel run down. There is good and bad days.”
Aaron posted a message on his Facebook page about his need to go to America. More than €70,000 has been raised on his Go Fund Me page since it was set up last week. He told Red FM that he wants the operation “sooner rather than later.”
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“I am not giving up. (When this is over) I will go back to my old life in sport. When the operation is over and I get my check up I will be going straight back in to the gym. The Leaving Cert and college is the drive. I would like to do something to do with woodwork.”
Aaron said the illness has changed him in that he now “needs to talk”. He said he was a quiet lad and joked he had to learn how to communicate.
He told radio show host Neil Prendeville he finds it hard to sleep at night.
“I don’t want to close my eyes because I could wake up one day blind or not even wake up. We have been told I could be gone in one day. We have no time. The doctors have told us we have no time.”
His father, Paul, said they were hugely thankful for the contribution of the public since they launched the Go Fund Me page five days ago.
Aaron first spotted his reoccurring headaches in 2013 and they got progressively worse by 2016. He was diagnosed with a brain tumour and had surgery in Beaumont Hospital before going to Germany for proton beam treatment. Earlier this year he noticed he had eye problems again and the family were told that his condition was terminal. If he can raise the funds his operation in the US will go ahead in the summer.
Aaron is 6ft 1inch in height and is the youngest of three brothers. He is fighting a rare cancer called Chordoma that occurs in the bones of the skull base and spine.
For more information or to donate, visit gofundme.com/aaronmcmahon