REMARKABLE 81 year old Galway pensioner Nora Higgins will abseil 100ft down the Golden Jubilee Wing of King's College Hospital in London on Friday, raising funds for the hospital's Skin Cancer Unit.
The Milltown, county Galway native received successful Mohs surgery at the hospital last year and was so impressed with her experience that she decided to contribute to the fundraising efforts to build new operating theatres to treat skin cancer and to buy equipment to detect and treat skin cancer faster.
She said "I am taking part because last year Dr Bashir performed Mohs surgery on my face and the results are great. However, it wasn’t just the results that prompted me to take part. It was the whole experience at Kings. Being diagnosed with skin cancer, especially of the face, is really scary. You think you’ll be scarred for life but not so! I was a nervous wreck when I had my first appointment but the friendliness, the empathy and the dedication of the whole team was inspiring and reassuring. I cannot thank them enough."
Nora is no stranger to the headlines. She proved the star of Ireland’s Global Economic Forum in Ireland in 2013 when she urged the business elite gathered not to forget their elderly abroad. At the Dublin Castle event, she spoke of elderly emigrants facing isolation and struggling to remain ‘useful’ in Britain.
Her passionate speech won a huge round of applause and led to delegates queuing up to offer assistance to the Southwark Irish Pensioners Forum, the organisation Ms Higgins chairs.
