Celebration of life of young GMIT student who died
A GMIT student who died of cancer last December, will be remembered today (Sunday) as family and friends in his home town of Tulla, Co Clare, hold a celebration for what would have been his 21st birthday.
Today's event to honour Jack Lynch, a student in Hotel Management at GMIT, is also a fundraiser for the cancer charity Sláinte an Chláir. It’s to help the group raise money for a mini-bus which will be used to transport patients to hospital for cancer treatment.
The 21st Birthday Memorial will begin at 11.30am with a Family Walk, starting from Cnoc na Gaoithe, Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann centre in the village. The suggested donation for adults is €10 and children go free. That will be followed with a Tractor/Vintage Run, starting from 1.30-1.45pm beside the Tulla hurling field, Dr Daly Park. The cost is €20 per tractor.
When the Tractor Run is completed, there will be a barbecue and live Music at the Power House, and trad sessions in Minogues’ Bar and the Windswept Hill.
Jack, a keen hurler and sportsman, was in remission from leukaemia when he began his studies at GMIT. The first-year student was due to sit his exams in May when his medical team informed him that the cancer had returned. GMIT staff pulled out all the stops to fulfil Jack’s wish to sit his exams while being treated at St James’ Hospital in Dublin.
He passed with flying colours, but was unable to return to college last Autumn as the leukaemia was not responding to treatment.
Jack was placed on a series of experimental drugs, but they, too, failed to work. His mother and two sisters received great support from Sláinte an Chláir during this time and the organisation also provided help when he was told there was nothing more could be done for him.
Jack’s wish that he should die at home, with his family, was fulfilled thanks to the support of Sláinte an Chláir. In gratitude for that, and all the assistance he and they received, his mother Noeleen and teenage sisters Gráinne and Róisín, decided to hold this fundraising event, to celebrate his 21st birthday, which fell last Wednesday.
All Jack’s friends from college and Galway are warmly invited to take part in the celebration in Tulla today.
More information on the Facebook page, Jack's 21st Birthday Memorial – in Aid of Sláinte an Chláir.