Offaly's Vanessa is Patient Supporter for Breast Cancer Ireland Very Pink Run

THE countdown is on as Breast Cancer Ireland officially launches the 2025 Very Pink Run, proudly supported once again by Very, Ireland’s leading online retailer.

Back for another year of pink-powered fundraising, this unique and family focussed, festival style event, will see large scale live events take place across Dublin, Cork and Kilkenny between 6th and 14th September – all in support of ground breaking breast cancer research and nationwide awareness and education programmes.

This year Offaly's Vanessa Mooney is Patient Supporter for Breast Cancer Ireland Very Pink Run.

Since its inception, the Very Pink Run has grown into a truly global movement, with over 97,000 participants across 40 countries, raising a phenomenal €7.3 million to date. This year, the pink wave is set to sweep across Dublin on 6th Sept, Cork on 7th Sept & Kilkenny on September 14, with thousands more expected to lace up for one (or more!) of the events.

A large group of very well-known faces from the worlds of Media, the Arts, and Showbiz have already joined this year’s ‘Very Pink Tribe’ including author and breast cancer survivor Nicola Hanney, Dancing with the Stars winner and pro-dancer Laura Nolan, 98FM Presenter and performer Paul Ryder, Newstalk Presenter Andrea Gilligan, FM104’s Thomas Crosse and Zeinab Elguzouli, Virgin Media’s Elaine Crowley, and presenter Kamal Ibrahim, alongside longstanding Ambassadors Shane Byrne and presenter James Patrice. Also lending their wholehearted support to the cause are Councillor Emma Blain, Lorraine Keane, Charlene Flanagan (Founder of Ella & Jo brand) and Chris Connolly, of Get Better with Chris fame, along with well-known Corkonians Dr Monica Oikeh, and fitness guru Lesley Giltinan aka Lean with Lesley.

These Very Pink Run Ambassadors will help rally thousands of supporters across Ireland and abroad to show up, step out, and support the cause — demonstrating that every step taken is a stride towards a future where breast cancer is no longer a life-threatening disease for the 1 in 7 women and 1 in 738 men diagnosed with this disease in their lifetime.

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Vanessa Mooney was diagnosed with breast cancer in December 2019.

She tells her story in her own words.

"In December 2019, my life was turned upside down when I heard the words: “It’s breast cancer.” I was only 40 years old, and everything changed in an instant. My sister Veronica had been diagnosed with lung cancer just two months earlier, and around the same time, my brother was told he had a terminal illness. Our family was already grieving the loss of my mam to cancer in 2014 and my dad to pneumonia a few years before that. I felt like I was in a bad dream, watching it all happen to someone else. But it wasn’t someone else—it was me.

Starting treatment was tough, to say the least. Veronica and I leaned on each other through it all, calling ourselves the “chemo sisters” and finding moments to laugh when we could, just like our mam used to say: “If you didn’t laugh, you’d cry.” But there were days when laughing felt impossible. Losing my hair was one of the hardest things I’ve ever gone through. I remember waking up one morning to find my pillow covered in hair. I ignored it for as long as I could, but soon it was falling out in clumps. My sister Anne, who’s a barber, shaved my head for me. I’ll never forget the sound of the clippers and watching my hair fall to the floor. I felt stripped bare, exposed, and I just wanted to run and hide—but there was nowhere to go. Cancer has a way of forcing you to face everything head-on, whether you’re ready or not.

Treatment wasn’t just hard physically—it was lonely, especially during Covid. I had to go to appointments on my own because of restrictions, and I’ll never forget walking into the hospital, scared and trying to be brave, wishing someone was there to hold my hand. Even with my family’s incredible support, I often felt like I was going through it alone. I didn’t want to worry them more than they already were, so I kept a lot to myself.

Cancer strips you down to nothing. The surgeries, the endless chemo, the radiation, the side effects—it takes so much from you. There were days I didn’t even recognise the person looking back at me in the mirror. I had to start over, piece by piece, rebuilding myself from the ground up. Some days, it felt like too much, but I just kept going. I had to.

Looking back now, I don’t know how I got through it, but I did. I found strength in my family, in small moments of love and laughter, and in the hope that someday I’d feel like myself again. Cancer changed me forever—it’s something that never fully leaves you. But I’ve learned how strong I can be, and I know now that even in the darkest times, there’s always a way forward.

Through my cancer journey, I often wished for a safe space to connect with others who truly understood what I was going through. That’s why I created Someone Like Me—a free app designed to support cancer patients, survivors, and their loved ones. It’s a place where people can share their stories, find resources, and connect with others who’ve walked a similar path. My hope is that Someone Like Me will make the journey a little less lonely and offer the kind of support I so desperately needed during my own battle."

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