Ballot for Hereford heifer raises over £11,000 for OG Cancer NI

The heifer was donated to OG Cancer NI by Carneyhill Heifers managed by John Taggart, his daughter Karen Bulford and granddaughter Hollie Taggart. This was in recognition of the support they provided both pre and post-surgery to Hollie’s mum Anna Taggart after she was diagnosed with a tumour in her stomach.

Anna Taggart began feeling ill in July last year and on October 9 she was diagnosed with a tumour and found out that she was going to have a gastrectomy operation during which 80% of her stomach would be removed. She had the operation on November 3 followed by eight courses of chemotherapy which finished on May 8.

After his daughter received her diagnosis at Belfast City Hospital, John was anxious about the kind of life she was going to have after the operation. OG Cancer are based at Belfast City Hospital and were able to give the family reassurance.

“We talked to people who had already lost parts of their stomach and they told us about what Anna would be able to eat,” he said. “When we spoke to them it put our minds at rest when we learned she was going to have some sort of a life.”

The charity, John added, gave his daughter great support before and after her operation.

“We thought that donating the heifer was the least we could do for the help and support they gave us all,” he said.

OG Cancer NI is a new charity set up to benefit patients and families affected by oesophago-gastric cancer in Northern Ireland. Throughout Balmoral Show volunteers from the charity were in the cattle hall selling tickets for the chance to win the heifer and continued to do this throughout the summer at Lurgan, Saintfield, Castlewellan, Antrim and Clogher shows. Northern Ireland Hereford Breeders Association donated £500 towards the fund raising effort which helped towards the final tally of £11,255 for the charity.

The draw took place at Clogher show, and the winners were Teresa and Thomas Faughey who come from a farm outside Newry.

The Taggart family would like to thank everyone for their support and generosity in raising such a mammoth amount, and the Northern Ireland Hereford Breeders Association for their generous donation. They have also thanked the volunteers from OG Cancer NI for the ‘tremendous job’ they did selling ballot tickets.