A night in memory of West Belfast stem cell donation champion Eimear Gooderham (neé Smyth) is to be held this Friday.

Eimear was diagnosed with stage two Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, a type of blood cancer, in September 2016.

After finding a stem cell donor match, Eimear underwent a transplant in November 2018, but sadly passed away following complications last year.

Throughout her illness, the Coolnasilla woman fought to raise awareness of stem cell donation alongside her family, who established the Eimear’s Wish campaign to continue her work.

As part of the campaign, Eimear’s family have teamed up with the locally-based Echinville Distillery to produce a new premium Irish gin aimed at raising awareness of stem cell donation.

In a bid to help the family with their tireless work, the Wolf & Whistle in Andersonstown have used the gin to create the bespoke Dragonfly Cocktail.

On Friday at 7pm, the bar will host a night for Eimear, £1 from each Dragonfly cocktail being shared between the Action Cancer, the Cancer Fund for Children and Anthony Nolan charities.

COMPETITION TIME ⭐️ For the chance to win a reserved table, x4 Dragonfly cocktails & Nibbles for x4 people this Friday! All you have to do is.. 👍LIKE 🔄SHARE 🏷TAG X4 FRIENDS Winner announced Friday 12pm 💖

Publiée par Wolf and Whistle sur Lundi 21 septembre 2020

Speaking ahead of the event, Eimear’s campaigning dad, Sean Smyth, said: “It’s just another way to raise awareness and raise another couple of quid at the same time.

“We’re going to have a raffle, you can win bottles of gin, you can buy a bottle to bring home with you.

“The idea is to have a bit of fun, have a cocktail and then for every cocktail sold £1 will go to charity.

"We hope that plenty of people will try the cocktail and that they all like it.”

The cocktail is so named as the dragonfly has become synonymous with the Eimear’s Wish campaign.

In addition to the Eimear’s Wish Gin, the tantalising beverage includes a Chambord, Lemon Sherbet Syrup, and Lemon Juice, replicating the Lemon Sherbet sweets that Eimear enjoyed during her battle.

The launch of the gin has seen the family raise thousands of pounds for charity.

Thanking the local community, Sean said: “The response has been unbelievable.
“It’s something a bit different so it really has caught public attention.

“We were hoping to raise £3,000 for the charities and to raise awareness. When everything is paid out we’ve quite easily raised £4,500. 

We were hoping to raise £3,000 for the charities and to raise awareness. When everything is paid out we’ve quite easily raised £4,500. 

“We’ve got beer matts printed that tell Eimear’s story, we’ve got t-shirts for the bar, we’ve got the gin itself, so it took a lot of money to get it out there, but we’re delighted that we’re easily going to hit £4,500 to £5,000. We’re well pleased about that. 

“Lots of people are now talking about stem cells, lots of people are now identifying Eimear’s Wish and Dragonfly and they know what we’re here to do.

“We’re here to raise stem cell awareness, organ and blood donar awareness, and we’re trying to look after teenagers and young adults who have life threatening illnesses.”