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Image / Self / Health & Wellness / Real-life Stories
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SELF

‘My sister was your typical Irish cailín – pale skin and freckles. She died aged 31’


by Amy Lynch
22nd Aug 2022

In her 20s, Sinead had had pre-cancerous cervical cells removed. Then came a wound on her ankle that wouldn’t heal. Then headaches and migraines. What followed was a malignant melanoma Stage 4 cancer diagnosis, which led to the removal of brain tumours just before her 30th birthday. Sinead died a year later.

With only four years between the two sisters, Barbara Brown and Sinead were like any other sisters growing up, squabbling over clothes and makeup while remaining fiercely loyal to each other. “She could protect me within an inch of her life, and I would do the same for her. We did everything for each other,” recalls Barbara. Sorting through photos of her older sister Sinead, Barbara remembers her favourite song, American Pie, as well as...

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