Please help us support Eimear McAndrew, a much-loved past pupil of Christ King Girls' Secondary School, who is living with a devastating and extremely rare degenerative condition.

Eimear is facing a future that no young person should have to face. There is currently no cure, but there is hope — through research, medical advances and the possibility of finding new treatments.

As a school community, we cannot simply stand by. We want to do everything we can to support Eimear and her family in the fight for a cure.

Eimear has been diagnosed with early onset Spinocerebellar Ataxia 7 (SCA7). This is a rare progressive degenerative neurological disease; there is no known cure. She has lost a lot of her eyesight and her movement is deteriorating. Eimear currently works for the Bank of England in London as an Apprentice Actuary. Despite her serious challenges Eimear is persevering with her studies and is determined to complete her exams. Anyone who knows Eimear knows she is a warrior and she is fighting hard.

Eimear’s story is one of unwavering resilience. Growing up in Ireland, her life was defined by a love of sport at which she excelled, representing her County in Camogie and Football, winning All Ireland medals in Football and one in Soccer. She worked very hard achieving high grades on the violin and flute.

Her life, her dreams, her plans for a future all destroyed by the diagnosis.

If you think you can support this campaign in any way please do. All monies collected will be going towards SCA7 research and treatment development. This work has been started in Leiden University, Holland in collaboration with Cure Rare Diseases, but urgently needs funding.