Susie Long fund set up to raise cash for hospice

Friends of the late Susie Long have announced the establishment of a charitable trust to raise funds to build a hospice for the dying in Kilkenny. The Susie Long Hospice Fund will be launched on November 16th.

Ms Long, (41), died of cancer on October 12th at Our Lady's Hospice in Harold's Cross and her funeral took place in Dublin last week.

Hundreds of people attended a memorial service on Saturday afternoon in the village of Callan. Her husband Conor McLiam, daughter Áine, son Fergus and sister Linda Huntsbuerger, were joined in the congregation by local politicians including Fianna Fáil Minister of State, John McGuinness, and the deputy leader of the Green Party, Mary White.

Malcolm Noonan, a family friend and Green Party councillor in Kilkenny, said: "Susie Long spent her life campaigning on social justice issues" and had prepared the details of the Callan memorial service before her death.

The service was led by Elizabeth Coyle, the lay chaplain of Our Lady's Hospice at Harold's Cross, and included a recording of Bob Dylan's A Song for Woody, music from the Kilkenny College Choir and extracts of Ms Long's interview with Joe Duffy.

Ms Long came to national prominence in January after contacting RTÉ's Liveline programme to highlight what she said were inadequacies in the public health system which had delayed her diagnosis. She was born in Ohio and in 1984 moved to Ireland, eventually settling in Co Kilkenny.

Donations to the Susie Long Hospice Fund can be made to AIB Bank, High Street, Kilkenny, sort code 93-31-98, account number: 346-270-51