A Co Fermanagh woman has opened up about the loss of her brother after a brave cancer battle which lasted more than two years.
Samantha Reilly’s brother Geoffrey Keaney from Enniskillen died in October after a long battle with cancer which began with him noticing a small lump in the back of his mouth.
After several trips to his GP and dentist, he was eventually diagnosed with the cancer which later spread to his brain.
Samantha told Belfast Live her brother, who was 50 when he died, was well-known in Enniskillen and sai he fought bravely against his illness.
“Geoffrey was such a happy-go-lucky person, everybody knew him and that really told its tale at his funeral and wake,” Samantha said.
“The house never stopped and the funeral was massive, there were grown men crying. Everyone said Geoffrey stopped to talk to them every time he saw them.
“We would have been very close from day one. I had to have the difficult conversations with him and the pain of having to go through his funeral arrangements with him is hard to describe.
“He was a quiet man but he liked the craic and he would have spoken to everybody, and he also had a very strong faith.
“He was a great person and he didn’t deserve to die.”
Samantha and her family recently raised thousands of pounds for Enniskillen-based cancer support group SWELL, who she said provided help to Geoffrey during his illness, and to his loved ones after his death.
“There’s very little support out there, you want someone to explain these things to you and how to deal with them,” Samantha added.
“We hadn’t heard tell of SWELL until a friend of ours told us about it. Geoffrey had treatments at home which helped him a lot and the support they have given us as a family has been great.
“Geoffrey would have been delighted with the funds raised.”
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