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He lost his parents to cancer - so he turned himself into the 'Daff Man'

James Gilleran lost both his parents and an aunt to the disease.

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TODAY IS DAFFODIL Day and across the country people are wearing flowers in support of the fight against cancer.

The annual event is organised by the Irish Cancer Society to raise funds to support their work, and each year James Gilleran – or ‘Dina Dina Dina Dina Daff Man’ as he’s known today – takes to the streets to promote the cause.

Standing at his stall on the bottom of O’Connell Street, Daff Man is covered head to toe in daffodils and is selling flowers to those passing by.

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In the space of a few minutes standing at his table, Daff Man is approached by people from Kurdistan (Iraq), France, Cyprus and Canada.

Gilleran has been helping out with Daffodil Day for the past 22 years and has been getting dressed up in his daffodil suit for about the past 10 years.

Today he expects to sell between 1,000 and 1,500 daffodils from his stand, and along with the thousands of volunteers across the country, the Irish Cancer Society aims to raise €3.5 million to help them with their work.

Gilleran created the Daff Man suit by pinning thousands of daffodils to a boiler suit.

As I say to people, if I can wear all of these daffodils, you can wear one.

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Speaking about how he has been affected by cancer, Gilleran says, “my mother had it, my father died on Christmas eve from it, my aunt died on Christmas eve from it as well, twenty years before him.”

Friends, a friend died a couple of months ago, I think everybody is affected by cancer. We all know somebody somewhere.

You can support Daffodil Day by purchasing a flower from one of the street sellers, texting ‘Daff’ to 50300 to donate €4 or calling 1850 606060.

Read: Someone is diagnosed with cancer every 15 minutes in Ireland

Also: ‘I don’t have cancer anymore’: Louise McSharry reveals good news on Daffodil Day

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16 Comments
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute vanc
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    Apr 29th 2022, 8:50 AM

    Wow 4 hubs for 51% of the population. Not good enough.

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    Mute Peter Johnston
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    Apr 29th 2022, 10:55 AM

    @vanc: Is it not 6 that will open – 4 included in the original plan plus 2 new ones?

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    Mute vanc
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    Apr 29th 2022, 3:25 PM

    @Peter Johnston: 6 not good enough either. 20-30 is a more realistic number. Imagine the wait list in large urban centres.

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    Mute Emer Caffrey
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    Apr 29th 2022, 1:23 PM

    The availability of hrt medication is a huge issue Minister, lack of supply = no treatment

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    Mute Kate Peters
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    Apr 29th 2022, 5:46 PM

    If it’s going to be ran like the HSE,there will be a fair lot of women over the menopause,before they get called for an appointment…

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    Mute Jenni Hynes
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    Apr 29th 2022, 8:59 PM

    I think a far better approach would be to properly train GPS. They seem incredibly ill-informed about something 51% of the population experience. Is any other treatable condition as common?!

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