President praises Barretstown cancer supports

FOR 17 years Barretstown Castle has had such a magical quality that it has been described by one cancer survivor as a “Hogwarts of the real world”.

The castle set in 20 acres at the side of a lake in Co Kildare has been hosting children and their families with life-threatening illnesses since 1994.

Yesterday, President Mary McAleese visited Barretstown to mark the annual International Childhood Cancer Day.

President McAleese said the words childhood and cancer do not sit well together, but Barretstown had shown that children and their families were not alone in facing up to a sense of loneliness which came with such illnesses.

Families knew that in a place like Barretstown their burden would be shared, she believed.

The audience of about 200 people was composed of children and families who use Barretstown, staff, children from local schools and a number of supporters of the venture which provides activity holidays during the spring, summer and autumn months.

They were addressed by 18-year-old Karen O’Neill from Celbridge, who recovered from acute myeloid leukaemia three years ago. She praised Barretstown for helping to restore her confidence after her illness. She told the audience the expectations of it being like Hogwarts were realised once she entered the gates.

Orla Jackman (13), from Tullow, Co Carlow, who is recovering from childhood leukaemia, described Barretstown as a “magical place. You come here and you know you are going to be safe.”

Consultant paediatric haematologist Prof Owen Smith said the prognosis for childhood cancers was getting better with every year. There was now a 85 per cent overall cure rate, rising to 90 to 95 per cent for those with childhood leukaemia.

He said medicine had come an “awful long way” in understanding how cancer worked in children. On average three children every week in Ireland are diagnosed with cancer, about a third of them with leukaemia.