Elderly Donegal woman faces 250km journey for cancer treatment

An 89-year old cancer patient has been forced to find her own way to travel 250km to receive cancer treatment.

The elderly woman, from North Donegal, contacted a local charity which operates a volunteer bus service transporting cancer patients the four-hour journey to Galway or Dublin.

Donegal has no specialist cancer care services, leaving people diagnosed with cancer to travel significant distances for radiotherapy and chemotherapy.

The woman, who do not want her name published, sought help from Eamonn McDevitt, runs the cancer bus service entirely on donations.

"We have a saying in our charity that, if you're diagnosed with cancer in Donegal, you've two options: you can travel, or you can die," Mr McDevitt said.

"The lady contacted us to say she has to go to Galway for treatment.

"Believe it or not, the husband is still driving, and while he's not able to drive to Galway, he said he would be able to drive (20 miles) to Letterkenny to meet up with the bus.

"They don't have a family, it's just themselves."

Mr McDevitt criticised the Irish Cancer Society which, he said, had never provided funding for the charity bus service because, he said: "They don't (fund) buses".

"We're very disappointed with the Irish Cancer Society," said Mr McDevitt.

"They come to Donegal every year and they do what's called a 'Relay for Life'.

"It's a fundraiser and they announced before Christmas that they picked up €820,000 here in Donegal alone.

"We've have talked to them in the hope they might give us something, and each time they have come straight out and tell us they 'don't do buses'."

As part of a detailed statement the Irish Cancer Society said: "In 2015, we will fund a number of...local cancer groups with over €500,000 of direct financial support for their services.

"What these groups have in common is that they are affiliated to the Irish Cancer Society’s network of cancer groups and have signed up to a shared code of practice for good governance.

"This gives us confidence that we can stand over any funds we redistribute to support our vision of a future without cancer."

"We invited (Mr McDevitt's charity) to become part of this network and they have chosen not to engage.

"They are aware that this is the first step to take when seeking funds from the Society. It remains open to (them) to join the affiliated network of cancer support groups and seek funding through this mechanism."

The Irish Cancer Society said it would "not compromise" on its policy of providing funds to affiliated local cancer services.