'It has given Kieran a huge lift' - GoFundMe for Cork All-Ireland winner reaches €275,000
The fundraiser to help former Cork footballer Kieran O’Connor and his family as he battles a rare cancer has topped the €275,000 mark.
Donations have poured into the GoFundMe page, launched by the Friends of Kieran last Friday, with their €250,000 target reached within four days.
Group chairman Anthony Connolly said the response “has been absolutely staggering”.
“It has given Kieran a huge lift,” Mr Connolly said.
We’ll take heart from this and keep the fundraising going so that we can do our utmost to support Kieran and his family through this very difficult period.
Kerry GAA has organised a bucket collection before their game with Mayo in Austin Stack Park on Saturday night.
And Mr Connolly said their focus now is on organising Aghada GAA Club’s 5km fundraising walk along Rostellan People’s Path in East Cork on Monday, which Kieran, 39, hopes to attend.
“We are encouraging everyone attending to wear their GAA colours. It will be as much about showing solidarity and support for Kieran and his family, as it will be about fundraising,” Mr Connolly said.
It is hoped that Kieran’s 2010 Cork senior football teammates will attend, as well as some of the current senior footballer and hurlers.
Designated car parks will be set up with people encouraged to arrive from 1pm to be ready to set off at 2pm.
O’Connor, who played senior football for Cork for seven years, winning an All-Ireland, three Munster titles and two National Football Leagues, was diagnosed with Ewing’s Sarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer, in October 2017.
In 2018, he underwent aggressive chemotherapy followed by surgery on the tumour but the leg pain returned and by January, doctors had to amputate his lower leg.
During his recovering, Kieran began experiencing bad back pains, and last week his family were devastated to find out the cancer had spread.
All the funds raised will help him, his wife, Sinead and their three young children over the coming months.
