Keelin Shanley’s husband Conor Ferguson has revealed “she still brings light every day” following her passing last year.
The RTE broadcaster sadly died in February 2020, after being diagnosed with breast cancer nine years ago.
The 51-year-old passed away surrounded by loved ones, including her husband and their two young children, Lucy and Ben.
While it’s been an incredibly tough year for the family, Conor took a moment to thank everyone who reached out over the last 12 months.
In a notice shared with the Irish Times, Conor said, “While marking the anniversary of our loss, we also want to say a belated thank you to everyone for your incredible support in the past year, and beyond.
“To our extended family and friends, and all those who sent cards, letters, photographs and memories, it really helped us get through these challenging months.”
He continued, “We will always be grateful to the kind, diligent staff at St. Vincent’s Hospital and Our Lady’s Hospice, Blackrock who minded Keelin so well.
“And finally thanks to the celebrant and all those who attended or participated in making Keelin’s funeral such a memorable celebration. She still brings us light every day.”
Before her passing, Keelin and Conor always tried to keep their kids up to date with her prognosis.
While on the Late Late Show, her husband Conor spoke about how he and Keelin had to tell their children the heartbreaking news that her cancer was terminal.
“That was hard for her and hard for all of us. And telling the kids was really hard. They were 11 and 13,” he said.
“Keelin had always drip fed information to them or let them know what was going on or speak quite candidly in front of them to other people about what was going on so at least they got a sense of what could happen.”
“So when it cam to actually telling them ‘there’s no more treatment’, it was really really hard but they were just so brave,” he added.
“They were really just amazing. They took the information in and obviously it was a very intimate time for us. We really felt that the kids just seemed to manage it.”
Our thoughts are with them all at this difficult time.