Laois Youthreach market raises €8,765 for ‘Robyn’s Journey’

YOUTHREACH Portlaoise has raised an amazing €8,765 through its recent Christmas market to help brave toddler Robyn Neville-Quinn (18 months), who is awaiting a bone marrow transplant in a London hospital.

Young Robyn is the only child of Meagan Quinn and Adam Neville, both from Portarlington. The adorable toddler has a rare genetic disorder which she will not survive without a successful bone marrow transplant.

An infection has delayed the transplant, which Robyn’s medical team are working to get under control before the transplant can be done and this will be followed by intensive chemotherapy.

Staff members and students alike were delighted with the results from a fundraising Christmas market. So, too, was Pamela Quinn, who works in quality control with the Laois-Offaly Enterprise and Training Board (LOETB) when the emotional grandaunt to Robyn was presented with a cheque in the centre on the Ridge Road by co-ordinator Anne Malone on Tuesday 17 December.

Ms Malone said: “We have held a Christmas market for charities for the last two years. Earlier on this year, Pamela was working from here and the quality assurance department held a coffee morning, where we raised €,1000 for Robyn. It was then that I suggested to the staff that this year we should donate the funds from our annual Christmas market to Robyn’s cause. We set a target to reach €4,000.

“We were making creative things for weeks in the lead-up to the market. As things were being made, people who were coming here were asking when the market was on so that they could support Robyn. We said that they could buy items now if they wished and we kept making more to replace them for the market.

“I went around businesses and organisations in Portlaoise and people happily donated great prizes for a raffle. We want to thank everyone who donated them, bought tickets, supported the market or helped in any way. Pamela sold €1,070 worth of tickets for the raffle herself.” Ms Malone also said that she received a donation of €5,000 and that the donor wishes to remain anonymous. This allowed Youthreach Portlaoise to more than double its fundraising target.

An overwhelmed Ms Quinn spoke on behalf of Robyn’s family, saying that she wishes to thank Anne Malone for her generosity and kindness in deciding to hold this year’s market for Robyn’s Journey.

Ms Quinn said: “I want to give credit to all of the staff and the learners who worked so hard. The market was a great success and a great day and the donated prizes for the raffle were fantastic.

“This will make a massive difference to Meagan and Adam. They are in London at the moment, which is not easy. They could potentially be there until March or April until Robyn gets over her transplant and her chemotherapy.

“They are going through a really difficult time. All of the kind thoughts, prayers and support they are receiving is as important as the money that is being donated, they really appreciate it. Robyn’s chemotherapy was supposed to be happening right now if things had gone right, but, unfortunately, she got an infection before the operation.

“She has been through a lot for an eighteen-month-old. She’s had her ovary removed so that she can have a chance at having children down the line and had a peg feeding tube put in so that she can be fed her medication and her food after her chemotherapy. This is all before she starts the chemotherapy, which could destroy her immune system. After all of this, she is going to be so vulnerable.” A GoFundMe page has been set up by Pamela Quinn for her grandniece with a target of £50,000, which passed £25,000 on Tuesday 17 December. For those who wish to donate to this deservingt cause, Google GoFundMe Robyn’s Journey.