11 January 2024
We are delighted and incredibly proud to announce…
Leona O’Neill has been awarded an MBE for services to charitable fundraising for people with Sarcoma. Leona is a Solicitor Consultant in our Legal Services (DLS) Team at Business Services Organisation.
Leona is founder of the Boom Foundation. The Boom Foundation is a Northern Ireland based charity that raises funds to support anyone diagnosed with Sarcoma and their families.
Leona set up the Boom Foundation in 2013, having lost her Fiancé to Sarcoma just 6 weeks before their wedding day. The lack of support in Northern Ireland for this illness fuelled her determination to put a support network in place for those suffering from this ‘forgotten cancer’. To this day, the Boom Foundation remains the only charity in Northern Ireland dedicated to supporting patients suffering from Sarcoma cancer.
Just a few of the amazing support services they provide for patients includes, (but is not limited to):
- Private tuition for children undertaking treatment
- Car modifications, (for instance, following an amputation)
- Funding for travel for patients’ families
- Winter fuel allowance
- Provision of devices (such as an iPad) for children undertaking treatment in hospital
- Weekend breaks and travel insurance
The Boom Foundation has received a number of awards and to date has raised over £750,000 through its fundraising efforts and donations. At the very centre of what Boom does is support the Sarcoma patient and their family. Boom wants to ensure that the charity will develop alongside the needs of Sarcoma patients and that it expeditiously will fill any gaps in the support afforded to them.
Leona wishes to thank the team of volunteers she has around her, always willing to give up their free time amidst their busy lives to help her continue with this amazing work.
“I am truly overwhelmed to receive this prestigious honour. When the Boom Foundation was first set up, my hope was that it would help sarcoma patients in some small way and that gaps in the support system in N.I. might be filled. Now, a decade on, the charity has grown and has made a real difference to the lives of sarcoma patients in a way that I could never have imagined.
This honour is in recognition of the work of the Boom Foundation and the great many people behind it. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Trustees and volunteers for the unwavering support, passion and dedication to the work of the Boom Foundation”. ~ Leona O’Neill MBE
To learn more about Sarcoma or the Boom Foundation, or if you would like to donate, please visit the link below:
We wish Leona a huge congratulations and very best of luck going forward with this tremendous contribution to charitable work!