A cheque for €10,000 has been presented to the Mercy Hospital in Cork to fund genetic testing of HHT, with a further €5,000 promised.

Growing up in the countryside, there wasn’t a tree I couldn’t climb, or ditch I hadn’t jumped. I’ve never broken a bone and rarely get the flu. You’d never have guessed I had a hereditary disease, but I do.

Dara Woods and her daughter both suffer from HHT, a genetic disorder of the blood vessels.