‘Embarrassing Bodies’ host helps hospital in €3m appeal

It’s where she examined her first cases of piles, boils, warts, and haemorrhoids. And yesterday Channel 4’s Embarrassing Bodies presenter, Dr Pixie McKenna, was back in the Irish hospital where she trained to back its ambitious €3m fundraising drive.

The Mercy Hospital Foundation said it will use the money to enhance the Mercy University Hospital’s cardiology, stroke, and cancer services, while also supporting services for children and teenagers.

The Cork-born, London-based GP, who shot to fame thanks to the hit series, said she has fond memories of her time in the Mercy as a final-year med student at UCC 20 years ago.

“You should never forget where you come from. And this is a brilliant cause,” she said.

@pixiedoctor launches a €3m fundraising drive for the Mercy University Hospital in #Cork pic.twitter.com/ojW80rydG4

— Eoin English (@EoinBearla) March 20, 2014

“This fundraising initiative is for all of us. They are looking at stroke services, where there is a very increasing risk of stroke in Ireland — one in every five who get a stroke will die; one in three of us will get cancer, heart disease, childhood cancers.

“This isn’t just about the Mercy hospital. While the campaign is about the Mercy, the reality is that, in Munster, you, or somebody you love, will end up using these services.”

She said the €3m target could transform lives. The fundraising drive hopes to raise €2.5m by 2016 for cancer services and to fund pioneering research into pancreatic and liver cancers in particular.

Of that, €1m will be used to develop the Mercy Cancer Support Centre in a building near the hospital earmarked for renovation.

The Mercy Heart Appeal aims to raise €200,000 to fund a CT diagnostic cardiology package to help cardiologists assess heart disease and plan procedures, and to buy a 3D Echo machine which produces images of the heart that are used to measure blood flow and detect heart defects.

The Mercy Stroke Unit, one of the newest facilities of its kind in Ireland, will benefit from a €200,000 investment.

The Mercy Kids and Teens Appeal aims to raise €100,000 to fund the redevelopment of the Children’s Leukaemia Unit, a mobile nursing service that administers treatment to children undergoing cancer treatment in the child’s own home, and bereavement counselling, art therapy and other support services for children who have lost a parent or sibling to serious illness at the hospital.

Foundation chief executive Micheál Sheridan said the Mercy’s medical experts are tackling some of Ireland’s biggest killers: Stroke, heart disease, and cancer.

“So more than ever, we need the support of the general public and the corporate community to effect real change,” he said.

“In return, we promise to do our very best to provide them with a world-class hospital, right on their doorstep.”

* www.mercyfundraising.ie