{"id":421068,"date":"2026-04-28T04:09:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T04:09:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/421068\/"},"modified":"2026-04-28T04:09:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T04:09:17","slug":"cork-woman-diagnosed-with-tumour-at-27-after-hearing-ringing-in-her-ear","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/421068\/","title":{"rendered":"Cork woman diagnosed with tumour at 27 after hearing ‘ringing’ in her ear"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gemma is climbing three of Ireland’s highest peaks raising money for ‘incredible’ charities<\/p>\n

Gemma Coffey will take on a ‘3 Peaks Challenge\u2019 over the May Bank Holiday weekend <\/p>\n

A young Cork woman received a devastating tumour diagnosis after hearing a ‘ringing’ noise in her ear. Now, Gemma Coffey is giving back to the charities <\/a>that helped her in her recovery.<\/p>\n

Gemma, from Mitchelstown<\/a>, is climbing three of Ireland\u2019s highest mountains in just three days, fundraising to thank the ‘amazing’ charities that supported her so much. It’s been three years since the young woman was diagnosed with a brain tumour and had to undergo months of radiation and chemotherapy treatment.<\/p>\n

Gemma was just 27 when she went for a check-up on her ear health.<\/a> She had been putting it off during Covid, but finally went to get it checked out in 2022 after suffering from what she assumed was a case of tinnitus – a ringing or buzzing sensation in the ear.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Gemma was just 27 when she was diagnosed with a tumour after hearing ‘ringing’ in her hear<\/p>\n

But the pharmacy worker, now 30, received a shock when the audiologist told her she may have a more serious issue. She explained: “I had tinnitus in my left ear, which was going on for a long time,<\/p>\n

“It was during Covid, and things got delayed, so I wasn\u2019t doing much with it,” she said. “At the time, I was working in a pharmacy; we had an audiologist who checked out my ear and pushed for a referral.”<\/p>\n

\u201cI went to Cork ENT (ear, nose and throat clinic), which did a scan and found something and wanted to send me to a neurologist at Cork University Hospital.\u201d After more tests and a biopsy, doctors confirmed she had a brain tumour.<\/p>\n

Surgery to remove the tumour was too risky, so Gemma went through six weeks of radiation and 36 weeks of chemotherapy. She explained: “It\u2019s funny when you finish treatment, you\u2019re delighted to get this news, but when you\u2019re on treatment, you feel you\u2019re fighting it, when you’re off it, it\u2019s a \u2018what do I do next?\u2019 kind of moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Gemma Coffey’s will climbs three of Ireland’s highest peaks in a single weekend <\/p>\n

Now back on her feet, Gemma was inspired to take on a fundraising challenge. Her partner, James Magner, gave her the idea to do something incredible for those who helped her. Gemma said: “Thanks to the incredible support of these three amazing charities, I was able to navigate one of the toughest chapters of my life,<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m taking on a challenge that reflects the support, strength and hope they helped me find.\u201d<\/p>\n

To give back to the Irish Cancer Society, Cork ARC House, and the Breeda McGrath Fund, Gemma is taking on a \u20183 Peaks Challenge\u2019 over the May Bank Holiday weekend. She will climb Croagh Patrick in Mayo, Carrauntoohil in Kerry and Galtee M\u00f3r near her hometown of Mitchelstown this weekend. It will see her climb a combined height of more than 2,700 metres for a cause so close to her heart.<\/p>\n

Each of Gemma’s chosen charities offered “incredible” support during her treatment and recovery, particularly The Breeda McGrath Memorial Fund at CUH. The fund was set up to support patients of the Dunmanway Cancer Services Day Unit. It was founded by the McGrath and Leonard families in 2018, in memory of Limerick woman Breeda, who died that year aged 50. Every year, cancer patients across Cork can avail of financial support in her honour.<\/p>\n

To prepare for threes days of climbing, Gemma will drive to Mayo on Thursday (April 30). She takes on the mighty Croagh Patrick on Friday, followed by Ireland\u2019s highest peak, Carrauntoohil, on Saturday and makes her final ascent at Galtee M\u00f3r. Friends and family will join her on Sunday night in Walsh\u2019s Bar in Mitchelstown to celebrate her achievement.<\/p>\n

She had hoped to raise \u20ac1,000 for each charity, but has smashed her target. So far, more than \u20ac5,000 has been raised. She said: “Every donation, big or small, will help these charities continue their incredible work for patients and families like mine.” Find out more and donate to Gemma’s 3 Peaks Challenge fundraiser here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gemma is climbing three of Ireland’s highest peaks raising money for ‘incredible’ charities Gemma Coffey will take on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":421069,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[28338,27121,42,86040,184344,43,77709,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-421068","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-charities","tag-cork-university-hospital","tag-headlines","tag-health-and-wellbeing","tag-mitchelstown","tag-news","tag-north-cork","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421068","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=421068"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421068\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/421069"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=421068"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=421068"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=421068"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}