A MEMORIAL concert celebrating the life of a West Cork teen will take place this Sunday, November 20th in De Barras Clonakilty.
Caitlin Buchan passed away in October 2019 aged 14 years. She had been diagnosed three weeks earlier with an inoperable Glioblastoma brain tumour.
Originally from Scotland, Caitlin moved to Clonakilty when she was four years old and attended Gaelscoil Mhichíl Uí Choileáin and Sacred Heart Secondary School.
Sunday’s concert is called C-Fab: C for Caitlin, ‘F’ after Frances her Irish granny’s middle name, ‘A’ for Angharad after her Welsh granny, and ‘B’ for Buchan.
Taking place from 3pm-7pm, it promises to be an incredible afternoon of entertainment, featuring a host of West Cork musicians as well as bands from BIMM college of music Dublin.
The event is also a fundraiser for Bumbleance, the children’s national ambulance service and Cian’s Kennels, at Crumlin Hospital.
Bumbleance, founded by the Saoirse Foundation in 2013, is a charity very dear to the Buchan family. It is the world’s first state-of -the-art ambulance service, specifically designed and tailored exclusively for children, from new-born to 18 years old.
It provides a safe and comfortable system transferring children from their homes to hospitals, hospices, respite and treatment centres. Bumbleance also provide a service which they refer to as an ‘Angel trip’ designed for a terminally ill child who is making their final trip on earth.
It will always ensure that parents can make this last trip with their loved ones – something which is rarely possible with the regular ambulance service.
The Buchan family first availed of the services of Bumbleance on one such trip, when Caitlin was transferred from Temple Street Hospital Dublin to Clonakilty, allowing her to spend her final days in her own home surrounded by family, and her pet dog Oban.
The family will be forever grateful to the crew for the care, kindness and compassion they gave to both Caitlin and themselves on that devastating trip. Bumbleance currently has 14 vehicles on the road, many of these are approximately 10 years old and need upgrading/changing.
In addition to this, with rising fuel costs, Bumbleance desperately need donations so that they can continue to help sick children and their families.
Cian’s Kennels is a relatively new charity set up by Evelyn and Enda Neary after the loss of their 15-year-old son Cian in 2019. Like Caitlin, Cian loved all animals, especially dogs. After falling ill his parents introduced a new member to the family, a Golden Labrador named Cooper. When spending long months in hospital Cian pined for Cooper and through the kindness of others his family brought the dog to Dublin. This was the birth of their idea to provide kennelling facilities close to the children’s hopsital.
Last May they officially opened a pet visiting facility at St John’s Oncology ward, Children’s Health Ireland Crumlin Hospital, and in the futre they hope to expand to other centres.
