Cork cancer campaigner Natasha O’Byrne dies aged 26

Natasha O’Byrne (pictured) is survived by her husband Rad, her two young children Emilija and Max, her father Anthony, brother Roy, grandmother Marie and mother-in-law Jasenka. Picture: Chani Anderson

Cork cancer campaigner Natasha O’Byrne has died at the age of 26.

The mother​-of​-two from Blackpool died on December 23 surrounded by her family and in the “tender and exceptional care” of the staff at Cork University Hospital.

Ms O’Byrne's family have requested that all attending her funeral mass on Saturday wear bright colours in her honour. The beautician, who was originally from Innishannon,​ was diagnosed with bowel cancer when she was just 24.

She is survived by her husband Rad, her two young children Emilija and Max, her father Anthony, brother Roy, grandmother Marie and mother-in-law Jasenka. She is predeceased by her mother, Tracy and brother, Michael.

Earlier this year, Ms O’Byrne spoke about her cancer diagnoses in an interview with the Irish Examiner to draw attention to the need for people to get themselves tested for bowel cancer at all ages.

According to the Irish Cancer Society (ICS), bowel cancer is the second most common cancer among men and the third most common among women, with around 2,500 new cases in Ireland each year.

Even though it’s less common for younger people to be diagnosed with bowel cancer — about one in 10 diagnoses are in people under 50 — it’s occurring more frequently now.

Ms O'Byrne was also one of the main organisers of the recent Concert For Cancer, in aid of the ICS, which was headlined by Nathan Carter. She was the third generation in her family to be diagnosed with cancer: Her grandmother had breast cancer, and her mother ​— who died in 2020, aged 46 — had lung cancer.

Of her family’s cancer history and her fundraising concert for the charity, she said in June 2025: "Between my grandmother and my mom, the ICS have been a part of our family since the early 2000s, so we’re just trying to raise as much money for them as possible.

"(The concert)​ will go toward clinical trials, night nurses for palliative care, and volunteers who transport chemotherapy patients to and from treatment. We want as many people to survive cancer as possible.” 

Ms O'Byrne said the realisation that she had the disease ​in November last year was a traumatic experience.

“That was the first day I met my oncologist," she said. "He didn’t go into too much detail that first day, because it was just so traumatic getting that information.

“He did say I needed to begin chemotherapy as soon as possible so that they could attack the cancer as quickly as they could.

“For myself, my own mental health, my kids, I focus more on the positives. It doesn’t mean blocking out the negative, though. It’s OK to sit and deal with the negative, too, but in small doses.

“I learned in counselling to make sure I’m not diverting my attention away from the negative completely, but equally, you’re dealing with it in a healthy manner.” 

In a blog post on the ICS’s website promoting Concert for Cancer earlier this year, she said: “I find myself in my mid-20s living with bowel cancer. It’s very hard to take but you have to get on with it.

I want to turn my cancer experience into something positive. I’m the third generation of my family to have cancer and I don’t want that same thing happening to my children.

She added: “For that day to come when hopefully nobody gets cancer, organisations like the Irish Cancer Society need funding so they can invest more and more in cancer research.

​"That’s why I decided to organise the ‘Concert for Cancer’ and I’m absolutely thrilled that Nathan Carter will be performing to raise vital funds for the Irish Cancer Society.” 

According to her death notice on RIP.ie, Ms O'Byrne will be "sadly missed by her loving family, aunts, uncles, grandaunts, granduncles, cousins, neighbours and a large circle of friends".

She will be reposing at Coughlan’s Funeral Home, Shandon Street, on Friday from 1pm, with family in attendance at 3pm and prayers at 4pm.

Her Requiem Mass will be held tomorrow at 10am in the Church of the Annunciation, Blackpool, with the funeral afterwards to St. Catherine’s Cemetery, Kilcully.