Una Crudden: Ovarian cancer campaigner dies

Una Crudden campaigned to raise awareness of ovarian cancer

Prominent ovarian cancer campaigner Una Crudden has died.

The west Belfast woman was diagnosed with terminal cancer five years ago.

To raise awareness about what she felt was a low-profile condition, the grandmother brought her campaign to a wider audience on Facebook and Twitter.

Earlier this year, she told the BBC: "It's too late for me. I'm terminally ill. But this is a cancer that can be treated, if the signs are caught in time."

She brought her campaign to Belfast City Hall

Despite undergoing intensive sessions of chemotherapy, she worked hard in trying to persuade the Northern Ireland Assembly to launch an ovarian cancer awareness campaign.

She succeeded in hosting the first awareness event at Stormont and persuaded Belfast City Council to light up City Hall in teal, the colour used by ovarian cancer campaigners.

"I have turned a negative into a positive. When you have a disease, people will listen to you more than they will to a doctor reading out a lot of statistics," she said.

"They relate to you as a person. They think, 'that could happen to my wife, or my mother, or my sister, or my daughter'."

Northern Ireland Health Minister Jim Wells said he was saddened by her death.

"Una was a remarkable and very brave women," he said on Twitter.

Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness was also among those paying tribute to her bravery.

East Belfast MP Naomi Long said she was a "courageous lady whose work to raise awareness of ovarian cancer leaves a valuable legacy".