Community rallies as over €100k raised for Cork woman fighting for life with rare disease

It's an amazing show of support from hundreds of Rebels - helping raise over €100k to support a young Cork woman battling an extremely rare, devastating genetic condition. Every cent from the massive fundraising drive is going toward researching and finding treatment for the condition which has changed the life of Fountainstown's Eimear McAndrew. She was diagnosed with early-onset Spinocerebellar Ataxia 7 (SCA7) at 27 years old, which is an aggressive degenerative neurological disease. It affects 1 in 100,000 people globally, and there is no known cure. The disease has caused loss of sight, loss of voice, loss of mobility and more - all of which have been devastating for Eimear, who was very involved in sports before her diagnosis. But when a GoFundMe was launched to support her and fund SCA7 research and treatment - Eimear's family, friends, and local community rallied to raise every cent they could, as fast as possible. Over the past few months, many events have been held to drive the GoFundMe towards its €180k target. These include - but are far from limited to - a school fundraising walk at Gaelscoil na Dúglaise , a coffee morning run by Ballygarvan Camogie Club, and a raffle run by Eimear's former Douglas GAA Club. One brave young teen named Fionn even shaved his head completely bald to bring in more support. Thanks to the combined efforts of West Cork locals and other donors from across Ireland and abroad, the fundraiser is now sitting at a whopping €107k. Eimear's family recently shared a heartfelt thank you for all the support on the GoFundMe - but they say their journey to "save Eimear's life" is far from over. Their update reads: "We are overwhelmed by everyone's generosity and support. Hope grows every time someone shares Eimear's story. Please help us keep it moving. A huge thank you to Eimear's friends and former team mates who came together to fundraise for her, and to Fionn, who has shaved his head. "We are getting closer to saving Eimear's life, please keep sharing if we could spread it out as far as possible. One share costs nothing, but it could help change everything for families living with SCA7. Thank you everyone." Earlier this year, Cork Beo spoke to Eimear about her condition , and she said she first noticed something was wrong when she started losing her balance. After several hospital visits and regular eye tests revealed nothing out of the ordinary, Eimear continued to live her life as normal. It wasn't until she moved to London after finishing her finance degree at UCC that something came up. While working as an actuary, Eimear's colleagues grew increasingly worried about her deteriorating sight, and the co-worker who sat beside her said, "Enough is enough, I'm booking you for an eye test." Eimear added that there is so little knowledge on the disease that she could "wake up tomorrow and need a wheelchair, or I could be totally blind, nobody knows for sure." It's important to remember that donations to the GoFundMe won't just help Eimear - they will help anyone suffering from SCA7. The funds will go towards Cure Rare Diseases, a small non-profit pharmaceutical, and researchers with Leiden University, Holland. If you want to donate or support the campaign, you can do so here.