Emma Hannigan

Emma Denise Hannigan (25 September 1972 – 3 March 2018) was an Irish author and blogger, best known for writing about her experience of suffering from cancer.

Early life The daughter of Denise, a Montessori teacher who ran a home school, and Philip, manager of a local engineering firm, Hannigan was raised in Bray, County Wicklow. She attended the town's St Gerard's School with her older brother, Timmy. She enjoyed writing, but her favourite teacher ended up having to insist on a word limit.

After leaving school, she attended Ballymaloe Cookery School in Co. Cork for a three-month course, but stayed there for three years. She then worked as a chef and ran her own catering business. However, breast cancer soon developed, "in the neck, shoulder and under my arm", in 2007. After repeated treatment, a tumour always reappeared. She told Barry Egan of the Irish Independent in the summer of 2016: "The lumps were getting bigger" while "The medicine was making me really sick. Yet it wasn't working". Kelly believed Hannigan's work should be published. After sending print outs to several people, Hannigan soon received two offers, and soon afterwards, a contract for three books.

A dozen books followed her debut, including novels and memoirs. The Pink Ladies Club (2011), was on the shortlist for the Eason Irish Popular Fiction Book of the Year category of the 2011 Irish Book Awards. After a sales campaign by friends and colleagues, her last book, Letters to My Daughters reached the top of the Nielsen BookScan bestseller list in Ireland at the end of February 2018. All profits from the book will be donated to the Irish Cancer Society.

Death and legacy Hannigan died on 3 March 2018, aged 45. Irish President, Michael D. Higgins, paid tribute saying she "leaves a lasting legacy" and was "a powerful advocate for Breast Cancer Ireland".

Her husband, Cian McGrath (the couple married in June 1998)