Major fundraising drive for Tipp teenager with rare cancer

Photo from Shaun Hilmi GoFundMe page

Over €80,000 has been raised in just over a week to support a Nenagh teenager whose been diagnosed with a rare form of cancer.

16-year-old Shaun Hilmi received the news at the end of May that he had Ewings Sarcoma Cancer, which affects just under three people in every million.

The major fundraiser is taking place to support Shaun through six cycles of chemotherapy, as well as physio sessions and other medical care.

A 30-second planking exercise challenge has gone viral to raise awareness of Shaun’s case, and the GoFundMe page has already exceeded the €70,000 target.

Shaun’s cousin Tipperary hurler Jake Morris has been explaining how people can get involved in the planking challenge.

“You don’t have to video yourself for 30 seconds – simply you can get someone to take a photo of you doing a plank or you can just put up a small snippet of your video.”

“So once you pop that up on your Instagram we’d like if you could tag Shaun’s Journey – the Instagram page which is set up with the Go Fund Me link on it and if you could also tag five of your friends to join and take on the challenge.”

https://www.gofundme.com/f/td2mw-shaun039s-journey