Majella O’Donnell appeal raises €400,000 for cancer group

Majella O'Donnell has raised almost €400,000 for the Irish Cancer Society charity after shaving her hair off on the Late Late Show on Friday night.

Mrs O'Donnell, the wife of singer Daniel O'Donnell, broke down when told by Ryan Tubridy this morning on his radio show how much she had raised.

She said it had exceeded her wildest expectations. She said she thought that if she raised €10,000, she would be doing well, but her husband said she should aim for €100,000.

“I though I’ll aim for €50,000 and that if I aim for the stars I’ll get the Moon. Mother of God almighty and Heaven above, it is absolutely incredible,” she said this morning.

Mrs O’Donnell was diagnosed with cancer earlier this year and started a course of chemotherapy treatment last week.

She said that she was feeling bad because the “not-so-nice stuff has kicked in bigtime. I’m not in a good place”.

Tubridy said the reaction that she received on the Late Late Show was the greatest he had seen in his time presenting the show.

Viewers of the show were invited to make donations through the cancer.ie website but a surge of traffic caused it to crash several times last night. These problems have since been rectified and the site is now fully operational.

The public can donate in three ways.

The fundraising phone number is 1850 606060, the website is cancer.ie and €4 donations can be made by texting "Pink" to 50300.