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Irish people have donated thousands as a Valentine's gift to a Carlow teen battling cancer
AN IRISH FAMILY in need is asking people to donate what they would spend on Valentine’s gifts this year to a teenager battling cancer.
Facebook / Team Shan Tynan Facebook / Team Shan Tynan / Team Shan Tynan
Shauntelle ‘Shan’ Tynan is an 18-year-old girl from Carlow – in March of 2015, she was diagnosed with Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH), a rare form of cancer.
The rarity of the disease means she has to travel to a specialist in Texas, at great cost to the family – a four month stay in Texas Children’s Hospital between September and December of last year came in at $527,000.
Facebook / Team Shan Tynan Facebook / Team Shan Tynan / Team Shan Tynan
The Tynan family set up a GoFundMe page in the hopes of raising money for the trip, and as news of Shan’s plight spread, they received over €130,000 in donations in a week.
Donations continued to pour in over the course of the trip thanks to events and drives held by people back at home, with the total breaking the €500,000 mark earlier today.
Shan returned from Texas in January – but in a video posted to her YouTube channel on Sunday, she revealed she would have to go back for at least a year for more treatment:
Shan’s heartbreaking video has since been shared thousands of times on social media – and for Valentine’s Day, she is asking people to donate what they would spend on gifts or flowers for their loved ones to the appeal.
At the time of writing, over €69,000 has been raised today alone – and people are showing their support with the #TeamShan hasthag on Twitter.
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Shan’s mam Leona has thanked all who have donated, dubbing today ‘Shanantine’s Day’:
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Cancer cancer treatment shanantine's day shauntelle tynan team shan