Marie Keating Foundation

In 1994 Keating experienced breast pain and her doctor diagnosed her with mastitis, providing her with a prescription for antibiotics and telling her to come back if the pain persisted. As she was a sufferer of nosocomephobia, she didn't go back to the doctors even though she was in pain. She discovered a breast lump, and her doctor immediately sent her to Beaumont Hospital in the north of Dublin city for a biopsy where she was told that it was cancer even before tests were run. Over a year and a half later, on September 25, 1996 (1996-09-25), Marie was diagnosed with Paget's disease of the breast which developed into breast cancer as it was not detected early enough. Although this was a shock to both her and her family, she underwent a full mastectomy the following month and began chemotherapy treatment. A year later, in September 1997, she was told that the cancer had gone but, because she rarely did her exercises, she developed lymphedema in her legs, and in the following month, she began to experience back pain and returned to hospital. An MRI scan revealed that she had cancer along her spinal cord so she began radiotherapy which she had completed in January 1998. On February 2, 1998 (1998-02-02), Keating died after losing her battle with breast cancer which had spread to various parts of her body, aged 51.[6]

After her death, the charity was founded in memory of her by her son, Ronan, her husband Gerry, and other children in 1998 initially giving advice and support to those battling breast cancer. As it grew, it expanded to cancer information, awareness and support for all forms of cancer. It was registered on May 4, 2001 (2001-05-04).[7]