Musician and farmer's daughter Mags McCarthy is lobbying the government to give the go-ahead for the construction of a stem cell lab in Cork University Hospital (CUH).

The aim is to provide life-saving treatment locally for people in Munster.

She said: "Currently people battling blood cancers are forced to go to Dublin or Galway."

McCarthy highlighted that it can be difficult for Munster-based patients to combine treatment with their day-to-day lives.

She said: "A lot of farmers are being diagnosed with blood cancers.

"We need to have this stem cell transplant lab built so they have access close to their home."

Campaign

McCarthy, who lives on the family farm in Dripsey, Co. Cork, will raise the issue at Leinster House on Wednesday, October 7.

The campaign is deeply personal as her father underwent a stem cell transplant at St. James' Hospital, Dublin in June 2022.

She explained: "He was an in-patient for six weeks. Following his discharge, he had to stay close to the hospital for six weeks because of the need for close monitoring."

Even after her father returned to Cork, he continued to make frequent journeys to Dublin for follow-up care.

"For the six weeks my father was in hospital, I drove from Cork to Dublin every day to be with him.

"I also had to be extremely careful about infection. Patients undergoing stem cell transplantation can have severely compromised immune systems.

Infections can be very serious and in some cases, life threatening," McCarthy said.

It was this experience that made her realise the difficulties experienced by patients and their families in the south of Ireland.

"These are people who are already seriously ill, yet accessing specialist treatment can mean travelling hundreds of kilometres and spending weeks or months away from their homes and families.

"For immunocompromised patients, extensive travel and greater exposure to other people can also create additional infection risks at a time when they are particularly vulnerable.

I know what these families are facing because my own family has lived through it."

According to McCarthy, Ireland is "severely under-served" in stem cell transplantation capacity compared to the rest of Europe.

"Patients in the south deserve equitable access to these treatments, and their postcode should not determine how far they have to travel to receive potentially life-saving care," she said.

McCarthy said the support she has received from people throughout Ireland on the campaign has been "incredible".

"I want to thank every single person who has helped, shared the campaign, contacted public representatives or advocated alongside us.

"This campaign is about patients and families, and I will continue advocating for them," she said.

Dáil visit

On October 7, McCarthy will join patient advocates, Irish clinicians involved in cellular therapy, consultant haematologist Dr. Vitaliy Mykytiv from CUH, and leading international experts to petition in Leinster House for the stem cell transplant unit to be finally built in CUH "after 20 years of talking about it".

Senator Eileen Lynch facilitated the visit to the Dail and all TDs are welcome to attend at 11:00am on the day, McCarthy said.

"We are very grateful to have the president of the European EBMT (European Bone Marrow Transplant) coming to Ireland to present on October 7 in Leinster House," McCarthy said.

Dr. Bruce Levine, professor in the School of Medicine in the University of Pennsylvania and co-inventor of the CAR T Cell therapy will present via video call, alongside other international experts.

McCarthy described how, while the campaign was underway, Dr. Levine took time out of his busy schedule to visit the 185ac McCarthy family dairy farm, which also keeps beef cattle.

The farm is now run by the musician's brother James.

"I have three older brothers and a sister and all of us give a helping hand,” McCarthy said.