Sisters to fundraise in memory of friend who died from brain tumour

Enya and Megan Quigley will also be raising money for Brain Tumour Research.

Brain tumours kill more children and adults under the age of 40 than any other cancer, yet historically just one per cent of the national spend on cancer research has been allocated to the disease.

Enya’s best friend Michaela Bradley passed away in 2010 just months after she was diagnosed with a brain tumour.

Michaela was like a sister to Enya and her siblings and their families went on many happy holidays together.

Sadly three members of Michaela’s extended family also died as a result of a brain tumour.

“We were doing AS levels when Michaela started to get sick and began to get really bad headaches at school,” Enya explained.

“She was such a bubbly, outgoing person who was always smiling. She was so sociable but her personality started to change a bit because of the headaches.

“She couldn’t stand the noise in class and always wanted to sit on her own, when beforehand she would have been the one everyone else sat around. She also kept having to go home from school because of the headaches and her mum Una started to take her to the doctor.”

The headaches were put down to stress as a result of the looming exams, but Enya said that anyone who knew MIchaela knew there was something wrong.

“There was one stage Michaela began crying because she couldn’t cope with the headaches because there was so bad. Her mammy and daddy (Kevin) took her to the opticians to check her eyes. The optician saw the tumours and sent her straight to the hospital.”

Michaela was rushed to the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast and had surgery to remove the tumours.

“She had to lose some of her hair. Being that age that was a big thing for her. Then she had to get radiotherapy and chemotherapy and she went through it all with a smile on her face.

“Michaela was so upbeat and I just thought she was going to get better. Once she got the diagnosis and they started to treat it, she got her old personality back. It was more frustrating when she wasn’t diagnosed because she didn’t know what was wrong or why she was having all the headaches.”

Unfortunately Michaela’s tumour grew back as it was an aggressive one and she passed away in March 2010.

To mark the 10th anniversary of Michaela’s death, Enya and her sister Megan decided to do something in her memory.

“Our families were so close and when Michaela died it was like losing a member of our family because there wasn’t a night we weren’t together.

“We wanted to do something to honour Michaela’s memory and to raise money for Brain Tumour Research.”

Enya said she was shocked when she realised how little money research into brain tumours actually receive.

“It’s just terrible. Over the years we have different wee fundraisers but we decided to do something specifically for that cause.”

The sisters have decided to take on the Stabane/Lifford half marathon in May, but have launched their fundraising drive this month to tie in with Brain Tumour Awareness month.

“Since we set up the Go Fund Me page I have had a lot of people messaging me about their family members who have been diagnosed with brain tumours and sharing similar stories to Michaela’s, that their symptoms have been there for quite a while before they are diagnosed.”

Enya said she hopes that by sharing Michaela’s journey it may encourage anyone who is experiencing similar symptoms to seek medical advice.

“Brain tumours, like most cancers, get more progressive the longer they are left and any research that can help with prevention or cure is so vital.”

She said she knows her friend would be laughing at the thought of her and Megan taking on a half marathon.

“Me and Megan would have been involved with sports at school but fell away from it once we left. We have just taken up running for this one event and the fundraising page is encouraging us with the training. We have done a couple of 5k runs along the Quay so far,” Enya said.

“We thought it would be a good way to get back involved with sports and running.

“We are still very close with Michaela’s family and before we decided to do anything we spoke to Una to make sure she was happy with our plans. She said if us doing this and sharing Michaela’s story helped one person she was more than happy. The Bradley family are so proud and so supportive of what we are doing.”

To donate visit: www.gf.me/v/c/n44m/enya039s-campaign-for-brain-tumour-research