{"id":326417,"date":"2025-08-07T23:27:14","date_gmt":"2025-08-07T23:27:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/326417\/"},"modified":"2025-08-07T23:27:14","modified_gmt":"2025-08-07T23:27:14","slug":"catherine-sherry-calls-to-act-on-all-island-cancer-services-after-death-of-woman-forced-to-travel-to-london-for-care-available-in-dublin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/326417\/","title":{"rendered":"Catherine Sherry: Calls to act on all-island cancer services after death of woman forced to travel to London for care available in Dublin"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u2018The treatment Catherine needed was just 60 miles down the road in Dublin, but she wasn\u2019t able to access it\u2019\n<\/p>\n

Catherine Sherry, who passed away earlier this year<\/a>, faced \u201crepeated air travel while she was severely immuno-suppressed\u201d, which weakened the 42-year-old \u201cand left her unable to fight the infection which led to her death\u201d, councillors heard.<\/p>\n

Mrs Sherry lived near Ballymoyer in Co Armagh and was a teacher at St Joseph’s Convent Primary School in Newry.<\/p>\n

Her death was behind a motion at Newry, Mourne and Down District Council (NMDDC) this week amid ongoing anger over how the mum-of-three had to travel to London for CAR-T cell treatment despite it being available in Dublin.<\/p>\n

The council approved the motion linking air travel to London to the toll on Mrs Sherry\u2019s health, while an option for a short drive from home to a Dublin hospital might have saved her.<\/p>\n

\n

\u2018She passed away far from home and far from her children\u2019<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Bringing forward the motion on behalf of the Sherry family, SDLP representative Killian Feehan said: \u201cI must commend the incredible strength and bravery of Fergal Sherry and he and Catherine\u2019s sons, who have been campaigning for CAR-T cell treatment to be made available to [Northern Ireland] patients at St James\u2019s Hospital in Dublin.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t begin to imagine how difficult it was to lose their wife and mother in such circumstances on May 12, 2025. Catherine\u2019s treatment was working, but the repeated air travel while she was severely immuno-suppressed weakened Catherine and left her unable to fight the infection which led to her death. She passed away far from home and far from her children.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd here is the devastating truth: the treatment that Catherine needed was just 60 miles down the road in Dublin, but she wasn\u2019t able to access it. Why?<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause there is still no agreement between the Department of Health (DoH) in the North and their counterpart in Dublin to allow Northern Ireland patients to access this specialist therapy in the Republic, despite it being routinely delivered in St James\u2019s Hospital.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not a capacity or funding issue, it is quite simply a political failure. No mother should have to leave her children behind to fight for her life in another country.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo family should get a call to say \u2018She is going to die\u2019, when the system itself has failed to give her the best fighting chance close to home.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mrs Sherry passed away at King\u2019s College Hospital, London, while receiving CAR-T treatment, a personalised form of immuno-therapy that reprogrammes a patient\u2019s own immune cells to fight cancer.<\/p>\n

\"Catherine<\/p>\n

Catherine Sherry. Photo: Funeral Times<\/p>\n

News Catch Up – Thursday 7th August <\/p>\n

Catherine\u2019s aunts Ann and Marie, who looked after the Sherry children whilst Catherine travelled to London for therapy, attended the NMDDC chamber in support of the motion.<\/p>\n

The Sherry family has since led a campaign to change current NHS policy, with claims the emotional and physical toll of having to travel long distances for care resulted in Mrs Sherry\u2019s untimely death.<\/p>\n

Councillor Feehan added: \u201cNobody should have to go through the experience of the Sherry family, particularly when this treatment is available so close to home.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have seen the success of cross-border cancer services in the past, allowing patients to access care closer to home and within reach of their families. I believe we need to see the same approach with CAR-T cell therapy.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe commend Fergal and his sons, who are now advocating for the treatment to be made available to other cancer patients from the North in Dublin, and acknowledge the Department of Health has an existing Memorandum of Understanding on all-island cancer services signed following the Good Friday Agreement.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe further recognise that CAR-T therapy will not be available in Northern Ireland until 2031 at the earliest. The SDLP is urging Health Minister Mike Nesbitt and Irish Health Minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill to begin urgent negotiations to make the changes necessary so that patients can access this treatment in Ireland, without having to travel long distances, and with the support of their family around them.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can all make a collective call on government to act now on an all-island path for CAR-T therapy. The infrastructure exists, the expertise exists, the only thing that is missing is political will.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u2018The treatment Catherine needed was just 60 miles down the road in Dublin, but she wasn\u2019t able to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":326418,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7757],"tags":[748,34912,1384,393,4884,257,5821,5820,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-326417","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-london","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-department-of-health","10":"tag-down-news","11":"tag-england","12":"tag-great-britain","13":"tag-london","14":"tag-mourne-and-down-district-council","15":"tag-newry","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114990078179233767","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326417","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=326417"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326417\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/326418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=326417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=326417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=326417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}