{"id":648273,"date":"2026-08-21T02:00:19","date_gmt":"2026-08-21T02:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/648273\/"},"modified":"2026-08-21T02:00:19","modified_gmt":"2026-08-21T02:00:19","slug":"cork-family-rallies-for-friend-diagnosed-with-cancer-after-seeing-doctor-about-cyst","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/648273\/","title":{"rendered":"Cork family rallies for friend diagnosed with cancer after seeing doctor about ‘cyst’"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Cork<\/a> family is campaigning to help their friend abroad fighting breast cancer – who was diagnosed after she noticed a bump while doing a check in the shower.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Halina Osikovska and her daughter Natalie are sharing their GoFundMe page<\/a> far and wide to support their ‘selfless’ friend M\u00ed\u0161a Sleckova in the Czech Republic. M\u00ed\u0161a – who has three children ages 12, 3 and 1 – received the shock news that she had a highly aggressive type of cancer just three days before Christmas last year.<\/p>\n

Speaking to Cork Beo, her dear friend Halina – also from the Czech Republic, who has lived in Co. Cork<\/a> for ten years and works as a cleaner in the Mercy University Hospital – said ‘M\u00ed\u0161a’s world collapsed’ when she got the news.<\/p>\n

The 41-year-old mum-of-three first noticed something was wrong when she felt a lump on one of her breasts in the shower late last year. She initially thought it was nothing serious. Her youngest son was only eight months old at the time, and she believed the lump might have been a blocked milk duct, inflammation or a cyst.<\/p>\n

\"M\u00ed\u0161a<\/p>\n

M\u00ed\u0161a with two of her children (faces covered for anonymity)<\/p>\n

After she mentioned it to her husband however, he convinced her to see a doctor the next day. She was then told she had two tumours in the area – one that was four centimetres across, and another smaller one next to it. Tissue samples were sent away immediately, and M\u00ed\u0161a received her cancer diagnosis by phone call on December 22nd.<\/p>\n

To mark her birthday in January – and in light of the shock medical news – M\u00ed\u0161a decided to help others by cutting off her hair and donating it to make wigs for charity.<\/p>\n

She is currently in hospital in the Czech Republic following surgery and is undergoing chemotherapy and radiotherapy. M\u00ed\u0161a’s treatment comes at a very difficult time, as she is dealing with housing difficulties, financial struggles and other issues in her personal life. She is also on parental leave and is unable to work and provide a regular income for her family.<\/p>\n

Through it all however, Halina and Natalie say M\u00ed\u0161a’s biggest concern is not herself – but her children. They say she is a very selfless person who, even after being admitted to hospital, organised a collection of soft toys to give to kids battling cancer in the oncology ward.<\/p>\n

\"M\u00ed\u0161a<\/p>\n

M\u00ed\u0161a before her diagnosis<\/p>\n

Halina and Natalie are urging anyone who can to donate to support their dear friend, adding that any amount at all – or even a share on social media – will go a long way. All money donated to their campaign will go directly to covering M\u00ed\u0161a’s household expenses, food and everyday necessities, her children’s needs, treatment and more during this difficult time.<\/p>\n

The Cork mother and daughter say M\u00ed\u0161a’s story is a clear example of how life, and people’s health, can take a very sudden turn at any time. They also hope her story can raise awareness of breast cancer and encourage other women to do regular checks themselves.<\/p>\n

You can share their GoFundMe campaign or donate yourself online here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Cork family is campaigning to help their friend abroad fighting breast cancer – who was diagnosed after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":648274,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3],"tags":[9,10,93295,18,13,14,6,19,17,11,12,15,16,5,7,8],"class_list":["post-648273","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-county-cork","tag-eire","tag-featured-news","tag-featurednews","tag-headlines","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-latest-news","tag-latestnews","tag-main-news","tag-mainnews","tag-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117131033746165413","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/648273","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=648273"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/648273\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/648274"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=648273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=648273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=648273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}