{"id":370554,"date":"2026-03-28T23:55:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-28T23:55:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/370554\/"},"modified":"2026-03-28T23:55:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-28T23:55:09","slug":"family-of-meath-mum-battling-rare-and-aggressive-cancer-blown-away-as-fundraiser-tops-e685k","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/370554\/","title":{"rendered":"Family of Meath mum battling rare and aggressive cancer ‘blown away’ as fundraiser tops \u20ac685k"},"content":{"rendered":"

“Sharon’s not looking to run a marathon, she wants to see her nine-month-old take their first steps, and to see all of her kids grow up\u201d<\/p>\n

Sharon, originally from Bohermeen near Kells, is a devoted mother to Jack, six, Louis, four, and baby Sophie who is just nine months old and is determined to do everything she can to be there to watch them grow up<\/p>\n

Friends and family of a mum-of-three from Co Meath<\/a> who is battling an \u201cextremely rare and aggressive\u201d form of cancer say they have been given a “massive lift” after more than \u20ac685k was raised in less than 48 hours so she could undergo life-saving surgery.<\/p>\n

38-year-old Sharon Ball<\/a>, from Bohermeen, was diagnosed with stage 4 skull-based osteosarcoma last October, and has since undergone chemotherapy which was unsuccessful.<\/p>\n

Despite the news, Sharon and her family have refused to stop trying for help, and have since found the opportunity to have life-saving surgery in New York.<\/p>\n

A GoFundMe<\/a> page was set up only two days ago, and has since raised well over half a million euros, with celebrities such as Maura Higgins and Jenny McCarthy sharing the page.<\/p>\n

Her close friend, Gear\u00f3id Rennicks, told the Irish Mirror that the donations have, \u201cblown everyone away\u201d.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Sharon Ball, 38<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cEveryone getting involved has given us a massive lift.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very hard to get your head around, and to think this money has been raised in such a short period of time.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re all incredibly thankful to absolutely everyone who\u2019s donated, it\u2019s really shown the power of people when they come together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gear\u00f3id has said Sharon\u2019s form of bone cancer is extremely rare, and that it\u2019s believed there are potentially around 200 undiagnosed cases across the world.<\/p>\n

He continued: \u201cShe had bad headaches last October, and thought she had ear infections. But when she went to the doctors and got scans, it turns out she had osteosarcoma.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Sharon Ball with her family<\/p>\n

\u201cIn February the plan was to remove it and then to start chemo after her original operation. However, after two weeks they realised that the tumour wasn’t reacting, and when they\u2019d scanned it had grown back to pre-operation size, which shows how aggressive it is.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnly last week she was due to go to hospital to have the tumor removed. But she was told it was inoperable, and there was nothing that could be done in this country.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s got great willpower and determination. Sharon won\u2019t take no for an answer. She contacted hospitals around the world to see if anyone could operate and try to remove it from her, and one in New York said it was something they could do.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Sharon and her loving husband <\/p>\n

Throughout the journey, Gear\u00f3id has said Sharon has remained positive despite facing many lows and she is determined to do everything she can to be there to watch her three children grow up.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou hear that these journeys come with highs and lows, but to be honest there hasn\u2019t been many highs for Sharon,” Gear\u00f3id told the Irish Mirror.<\/p>\n

“The chemo didn\u2019t work, and she was told that the tumour wasn\u2019t operable.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut now this is a big opportunity. She hasn\u2019t sat and felt sorry for herself, she\u2019s been looking for solutions.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been saying Sharon’s not looking to run a marathon, she wants to see her nine-month-old take their first steps, and to see all of her kids grow up.\u201d<\/p>\n

With over \u20ac685,000 raised so far, the money will massively help Sharon in her journey to recovery.<\/p>\n

However, Gear\u00f3id wanted to emphasise that there still isn\u2019t a clear figure on how much the entire procedure will cost, and has continued to encourage people to donate to Sharon\u2019s cause.<\/p>\n

To donate to Sharon\u2019s cause, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Want to see more from the Irish Mirror? Making us your preferred source on Google<\/a> means you\u2019ll get more of our exclusive top stories and must-read content straight away. To add Irish Mirror as a preferred source, simply click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"“Sharon’s not looking to run a marathon, she wants to see her nine-month-old take their first steps, and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":370555,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[258,93,34646,61,60,15949],"class_list":{"0":"post-370554","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-cancer","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-gofundme","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland","13":"tag-meath"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370554","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=370554"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370554\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/370555"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=370554"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=370554"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=370554"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}