EDITOR –  On Thursday my husband and I had the luck of passing the Clonakilty stadium at the time when the semi-final of FE Premier 2 hurling championship was about to start. We are both keen on a lot of sports and had so hoped to catch a game whilst out in Ireland on our holiday from Cornwall. So in we went.

We were so lucky to find ourselves sharing part of the railing with a couple of gentlemen from the Clonakilty club. Sadly we did not get their names but the younger gentleman was we believe a coach of one of the younger teams in the Clonakilty club and he did mention that his wife also helped coach the ladies (camogie) team.

Both gentlemen took their time to explain all that was going on and went out of their way to look after us. The older gentleman told us about the local area and then jokingly (or I thought jokingly) promised he would get me a sliotar (hopefully that means the ball) which I took with a pinch of salt. How wrong we were, we should have known that no Irish man would promise something he wouldn’t deliver! We arrived back at our holiday accommodation a while ago to find the ball sitting at the door.

We can’t tell you how delighted we are to receive this. It just confirms what we have been so delighted with throughout our holiday in your beautiful country, the friendliness and kindness of the Irish people. We hope those two dear gentlemen see this message and realise how grateful we are.

I am hoping you might be able to publish this so that they can see how much we appreciated their kindness.

Liz and Phil Gerrish,

Penberthy Road,

Portreath,

Cornwall.

Brain tumours: how to spot the danger signs

EDITOR –   With National Brain Tumour Awareness Week coming up from October 20th to 26th, I’d like to draw the attention of your readers to a new awareness campaign being mounted by Brain Tumour Ireland.

As a paediatric oncologist, I hear too often that parents have presented their child multiple times with symptoms and signs before a diagnosis of a brain or spinal tumour is made.

While this doesn’t necessarily mean that the outcome is worse, it can be, and a child or young person may have, unfortunately, lost vital functions by the time the diagnosis is made.

Against this backdrop, Brain Tumour Ireland has developed a new Heads Up guide to draw attention to the different types of symptoms in babies, children and teenagers.

We want to remind GPs, doctors and Emergency Department staff, that children can get brain tumours and, while it is rare, brain and central nervous system tumours are the most common childhood cancer, alongside leukaemia, and to keep this in mind when reviewing symptoms.

It’s also worth parents considering asking the question of a doctor “can you reassure me that this isn’t a brain tumour?”

Brain tumour symptoms can include persistent vomiting, recurring headache, problems with balance and co-ordination, behaviour change, fits or seizures, abnormal eye movements, blurred or double vision/loss of vision, and a wry or stiff neck/head tilt. In babies, there may be increasing head circumference, while other children may experience early, delayed or arrested puberty. The guide is being published to coincide with a webinar which will take place on Monday October 20th from 6-7.30pm.

To download the new Heads Up guide, or to register for the event, visit www.braintumourireland.com 

Dr Jane Pears

Consultant Paediatric Oncologist

C/O Brain Tumour Ireland

Dublin 7

Racism breeds hate and ends with terrorism

EDITOR -  Everyone talks about terrorism. But have we ever stopped to ask the real question: Where does terrorism actually begin?

It doesn’t begin with guns or bombs. It begins with something much smaller, something we all know. It begins with hate. It doesn’t appear overnight though, it grows. Step by step, it hardens into racism and then to extremism, which left unchecked turns into terrorism.

Racism is the seed and it starts with words, with labels, and with insults. When racism becomes normal, when children grow up hearing it, feeling it, and absorbing it, it slowly hardens into extremism.

By the time a child grows up surrounded by hate, by hearing it, feeling it, absorbing it, they are already vulnerable. That’s when terrorist groups come in. They don’t create new hate, they simply fuel the hate that’s already there. They give it direction, they give it purpose, and they turn it into violence.

So where does it end? It ends when we speak, when we refuse to be divided by skin colour, language, or passport or religion. It ends when we finally realise that above all are just temporary identities, there is only one true identity: humanity.

Racism is the beginning. Extremism is the middle. Terrorism is the end. The choice is ours: do we pass racism and hate to the next generation, or hope and humanity?

Raaz Ze Fishan

Usman Ali Shan

Cork