{"id":372539,"date":"2026-03-30T06:35:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T06:35:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/372539\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T06:35:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T06:35:14","slug":"gofundme-to-help-mum-of-three-battling-rare-cancer-smashes-target","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/372539\/","title":{"rendered":"GoFundMe to help mum-of-three battling rare cancer smashes target"},"content":{"rendered":"

A mum-of-three who is battling an extremely rare and aggressive form of cancer has appealed for help in raising the funds to have surgery.<\/p>\n

Sharon Ball, from Bohermeen, was diagnosed with stage 4 skull-based osteosarcoma in October 2025 and has since undergone chemotherapy, which unfortunately was not successful.<\/p>\n

She is now urgently trying to raise \u20ac650,000 for brain surgery in New York, with Irish celebs, including Maura Higgins, Jessica O\u2019Mahony, Vogue Williams, and Jenny McCarthy, throwing their support behind the fundraiser.<\/p>\n

\"cancerHELP SHARON GET URGENT LIFE SAVING BRAIN SURGERY. Pic: GoFundMe<\/p>\n

Writing on Sharon\u2019s GoFundMe<\/a> page, her loved ones said: \u2018Sharon is a 38-year-old wife, daughter, and sister, and most importantly, a devoted mother to three young children, Jack, aged six, Louis, aged four, and Sophie, who is just 9 months old.<\/p>\n

\u2018She is determined to do everything she can to be there to watch them grow up. Her family and friends are now urgently trying to raise the funds needed to make this surgery possible as quickly as possible. Time is critical.<\/p>\n

\u2018Every donation\u2014no matter how big or small\u2014will make a real difference. If you are unable to donate, please consider sharing this page to help us reach as many people as possible.<\/p>\n

\"HELPHELP SHARON GET URGENT LIFE SAVING BRAIN SURGERY. Pic: GoFundMe<\/p>\n

\u2018We are incredibly grateful for any support you can give. Thank you for your kindness, generosity, and compassion.\u2019<\/p>\n

In just a matter of days, the \u20ac650,000 target was reached, and as of the morning of March 29, more than \u20ac728,000\u00a0has been raised with over 16,000 people donating.<\/p>\n

Among the familiar faces sharing Sharon\u2019s fundraiser were celeb photographer Jenny McCarthy, who herself has had brain surgery<\/a>, and her husband, TV presenter Martin King.<\/p>\n

\"JennyJenny McCarthy throws her support behind Irish mum Sharon Ball who needs surgery in New York. Pic: Jenny McCarthy \/ Instagram<\/p>\n

\u2018I normally NEVER ask for donations, but I\u2019m praying you might help here if you can,\u2019 Jenny wrote as she shared a link to the fundraiser. <\/p>\n

Jenny continued: \u2018This is Sharon, aged 38 yrs. I photographed her wedding and her beautiful children, too. Sharon has stage 4 Osteosarcoma of the skull. <\/p>\n

‘Unfortunately, she needs to get to NYC asap for treatment as it hasn\u2019t been possible here. Having been through 2 brain surgeries myself, I know how scary this is. Sharon wants to be here for her three babies.\u2019<\/p>\n

Kayleigh Trappe also shared Sharon’s GoFundMe, saying that she’s a teacher who works with her fianc\u00e9, Tom.<\/p>\n

Kayleigh said: ‘She\u2019s an absolute lady, a teacher who works with Tom, who needs surgery. We\u2019re going to try to get the donations in. Everything, big or small, is really appreciated.’<\/p>\n

Donate to Sharon’s GoFundMe here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A mum-of-three who is battling an extremely rare and aggressive form of cancer has appealed for help in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":370119,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[93,61,60],"class_list":{"0":"post-372539","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372539","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=372539"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372539\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/370119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=372539"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=372539"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=372539"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}