Cancer survivors help buy machine which slashes waiting times for patients at CUH 

Cancer survivors and friends Sylvia McHenry, left, and Miriam Healy, who raised almost a tenth of the €550,000 needed to secure the Ion Torrent Sequencer for Cork University Hospital, through Cork Pink Week fundraising events. Picture: Colm Lougheed.

A €550,000, machine part-funded by two cancer survivors in Cork, has reduced an eight-week waiting time for patients to just 24 hours.

The Ion Torrent Genexus sequencer at Cork University Hospital (CUH) can identify the DNA profiles of cancers, which are then used to determine the best type of treatment to fight the disease.