Charity ball postponed after organiser loses cancer battle

A Ratoath man who set up a charity ball in memory of his mother who lost her battle with breast cancer in 2008 was postponed last month due to his wife heartbreakingly passing away from the same disease.

Ciaran Keller from Ratoath and his family were due to host the 11th Mary Keller Ball in the Pillo Hotel in Ashbourne on March 23rd however plans were put on hold due to the unexpected death of his wife Lorraine who had been battling stage 4 Lung Cancer.

The ball is a charity event that was set up in Ciaran's mother's name as she battled through seven years of breast cancer.

In year one, organisers of the ball were delighted to raise over €25,000 for the Marie Keating Foundation, so Ciaran took it on himself to carry on the tradition for ten incredible years and raised over €150,000 for the Marie Keating Foundation, St Francis Hospice and the LauraLynn Foundation.

The family was lucky enough to have her there for the inaugural ball in 2008, before she lost her long battle later that year.

This year, after a seven year break, Ciaran decided to dust off the tuxedo and devote his time to getting the ball rolling again, to raise funds for two new charities dear to his family's hearts - the Mater Hospital Foundation and ALK Positive Lung Cancer UK.

Lorraine's family say they are "heartbroken."

" Lorraine had been bravely battling stage 4 lung cancer since April 2022, she fought relentlessly over the last 2 years and lived her life to the fullest making memories that our family will forever be grateful for," said Lorraine's niece Emma Harnett.

" In the end, although her mind and soul were not ready to give in, her body could not take the treatment anymore and we lost our lovely Lorraine, a true inspiration to us all.

"Lorraine was a wife, a mammy to Cian (22), Aoife (18) and Caoimhe (12), a daughter, a sister, an auntie, a sister in law, a godmother and a friend to so many people who loved her so much and we will continue to fundraise in her memory in hopes to make her proud.

"We as a family are heartbroken but, as Lorraine would want us to, we have decided to plan the ball for another date in the next few months. Lorraine pushed us so much to do as much as we could to fundraise for these amazing charities that helped her since April 2022 and we will continue to do so to honour her memory."

Emma says the ball will go ahead in time and will be "bigger and better." She added:

"We still will use everything that has been donated when we decide on a new date for our 11th Annual Lorraine & Mary Keller Ball. We want to make this ball bigger and better than ever to raise as much as possible in memory of our beautiful Lorraine and would appreciate any more support we can get.

We would also appreciate anyone that may be able to share our idonate page on their social media channels

https://www.idonate.ie/fundraiser/MaryKellerBall which we have already raised over 25k on or share our instagram @marykellerball