David Newman

Our beloved David, devoted father, husband, son, brother, brother-in-law, friend and colleague, passed away in November 2019 after a short fight with Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML). David lived his 44 year life to the full. Born in Cork Ireland, he moved to the US in his early 20's after completing a mathematics degree. David then settled in New York and completed his actuarial studies. He ultimately became a Partner with the consulting firm, Mercer.

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David also met his life partner Robyn in New York and they settled and had 3 children - Kaela, Conor and Sean. In addition to being a devoted and loving father and husband, he was an enthusiastic and talented sportsman playing golf, soccer, and tennis regularly as well as skiing in the winter with his family.  He was a huge supporter of Manchester United and U2 (having been to 40+ concerts around the world). 

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David's AML Story

August 2019 was our last family vacation with David. We visited David's home in Cork for a few days, then did a side-trip to Dubrovnik Croatia, before returning to Dublin to catch up with friends and family. David was a little out of breath climbing the many steps around The Walled City, but little did we know that leukemia was the cause. Shortly after returning home to New York, David complained of a tooth ache - again, we did not think there was a serious health issue. Shortly after that, he experienced some discomfort in his chest, but thought it was due to a chunk of pizza going down the wrong way on Thursday pizza night so played soccer and golf that weekend as if nothing was wrong. The following Tuesday (October 15, 2019), David was struggling to catch his breath and passed out on the train going into work, and was taken by ambulance to NYP Hospital for tests. He was diagnosed with AML later that day, and never came home from the hospital. The purpose of telling this story is to raise awareness of how aggressive this disease is, and also to encourage anyone who is "feeling a little off" to get checked out. It is also imperative to have regular check-ups including blood work to catch serious illnesses as early as possible.

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The Quest to Cure AML and other blood cancers

There is still much to learn about leukemia, lymphoma, myeloma and other blood cancers in order to find effective treatments and cures.  For AML in particular, the post-treatment survival rate in adults is only around 28%. The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS), is now the world's largest voluntary (nonprofit) health organization dedicated to funding blood cancer research and providing education and patient services and that is why we have chosen this charity as the focus for our fund-raising efforts in David's name. Thank you very much for your support for our past, current and future events. Kaela (David's eldest child, aged 14 when he passed away) is also on a quest to further research into cures for AML, particularly applications regarding CAR-T cell therapy, which have been very helpful in treating other types of cancer. Click here to learn more about Kaela's  research project at school. Kaela was also delighted to be accepted into Trinity College Dublin's Biological and Biomedical Sciences program (with intent to specialize in immunology) which she started this past September.

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Have an idea for an event?

If you have an idea for a future event in David's name, please send an email to robyncameron217@hotmail.com and we can work together to make it a reality and get it promoted through this website.