AN URGENT appeal has been made to "ease the financial stress" on a mum-of-three whose cancer battle has gone "from curing to prolonging life". Laura Casserly, 36, has stage four sarcoma cancer with metastases to the lungs and lymph nodes. The mother of three young children, from Leixlip, Co Kildare , was diagnosed with undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma (UPS) on Easter Sunday, 2021.
Her youngest daughter was only ten months old when she got the shock diagnosis. At this stage, Laura had stage two-B, treatable cancer. She underwent five weeks of radiation therapy and had a resection of her calf to remove the lump.
The young mum, who now lives in Enfield, Co Meath , had to learn to walk again during a gruelling rehabilitation for 12 weeks. In October 2021, Laura had pain in her knee, and further tests showed the cancer had returned and spread into her lymph nodes and both of her lungs. Organiser Faye Byrne set up the fundraiser to help her family "focus on making memories for when Laura is no longer there".
Faye wrote in a statement on the fundraiser site GoFundMe that Laura was given the devastating news that her cancer was at stage four in 2021. However, "the treatment plan had gone from curing the cancer to prolonging her life". She said: "Laura was given 6 months of the strongest chemotherapy available and then had an amputation of her right leg on the June 29, 2023.
"In another blow on November 8, 2023, the doctors found a 3cm Lymph node Lump in the top of Laura's leg. "S.