It was announced this week that Niall Breslin aka Bressie, singer, songwriter, producer and

Bressie & Lorraine

 currently one of the judges on RTE¹s The Voice of Ireland is to become an ambassador for the Cancer Charity LARCC which is based just outside of Niall¹s hometown of Mullingar.

LARCC National Cancer Retreat & Support Centre is celebrating its move to a new purpose built premises in Multyfarnham.  LARCC offers a residential retreat and a call in service for cancer patients and their families, providing them with emotional support in a homely environment allowing them to gain comfort from the range of therapies & treatments available.  Bressie said today ³It¹s a great honour for me to be asked to be the first ambassador of this caring charity which has helped so many people since its inception in 2002. My mum has been a volunteer and board member for a number of years and I have seen and heard at first hand what a difference LARCC and its staff make to those that are dealing with cancer on a daily basis².

The LARCC centre is located in the peaceful grounds of the Franciscan Friary and the wide range of services offered from counselling to healing complementary therapies make it a sanctuary for many cancer patients.

Lorraine Fitzmaurice attended one of LARCC¹s many residential retreats and said today ³the warmth and care that the LARCC staff give to every patient is so special. LARCC gives you the space to deal with living with cancer which is often so hard to find in today¹s busy world².

Bernie Mc Hugh from LARCC said ³we are very proud that our first LARCC ambassador is a native of Westmeath! Niall has shown great interest in the work we do and how we help those who are living with cancer and I hope partnering with Niall will give LARCC a greater voice and reach to a wider audience to let people know about our unique cancer residential retreats”.

She added ” LARCC cares for over 600 people per annum through counselling, complementary therapies, nurse support and a range of specialist services such as the Breast Care Service & MLD (manual lymphatic drainage).  We hope to welcome over 200 people from all over Ireland this year to enjoy a range of  Residential Retreats, designed to offer emotional support for both cancer patients and their carers or family members.  It costs hundreds of thousands  per annum to run the service with 80% needing to be raised through fundraising and donations and in this tough economic climate every euro donated is greatly valued and appreciated by the team at LARCC”.