A young county Cork woman who received a shock lung cancer diagnosis has urged the public to support Daffodil Day on Friday March 25.
Bronwyn Carpenter [32] was diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer in 2020 and recalls her initial reaction to the diagnosis.
“It was a massive shock. I was young, pretty healthy, I had never smoked… lung cancer was never even on my radar. It turned out following further tests I had a particular genetic mutation, so my lung cancer was most likely not related to environmental factors.”
Due to her genetic mutation, Bronwyn was suitable to begin targeted therapy known as Tagrisso.
“The oncologist was delighted that I could avail of targeted therapy as it’s a huge advancement in the treatment of some types of lung cancer. If I had gotten the same diagnosis a few years ago, things would be very different and the prognosis certainly wouldn’t have been as good,” she states.
Bronwyn hopes that her story will highlight how important it is to be aware of any changes to your body that are unusual or persistent. “It really is so important to get checked out and to get to the bottom of anything unusual. I didn’t experience very many of the typical lung cancer symptoms besides weight loss, which could have been attributed to a multiple of things at the time,” she says.
As well as supporting life-changing cancer research, the Irish Cancer Society provides vital services to patients and their families in Cork each year, including supporting 869 counselling sessions, 745 nights of in-home Night Nursing for patients in their final days, and 719 Volunteer Driving lifts to get patients safely to and from their hospital appointments in 2021.
As Daffodil Day returns to the streets of Ireland for the first time since 2019 on March 25, the Irish Cancer Society is calling on the public to take part in any way they can to show solidarity and support for anyone affected by cancer.
Every day cancer takes so much from so many families and Daffodil Day is a chance to come together and take something back, giving hope and raising funds so that one day cancer will take no more.
People are being asked to take part and take back from cancer in any way they can this Daffodil Day. As well as donating at Cancer.ie and volunteering to help fundraise, they can purchase items from the Daffodil Day online shop and take part in a steps challenge.

Irish Cancer Society CEO Averil Power said: “We are so excited to be able to get out on the streets again to see the amazing support the people of Ireland show to anyone affected by cancer. Daffodil Day is such a special and hopeful day for our entire community. Throughout the pandemic we’ve been so lucky that people have found innovative ways to support us but we are looking forward to seeing Ireland turn yellow once again on March 25.

“Daffodil Day is our most important fundraising event of the year and the money raised goes directly to funding crucial supports including our Support Line, free counselling, our Night Nurses to provide end of life care, and financial support for families of children affected by cancer. Along with these services, the money raised on Daffodil Day allows us to support life-changing cancer research.”

For more information about Daffodil Day visit www.Cancer.ie/DaffodilDay