Emma Hannigan Source: Sasko Lazarov/Rollingnews.ie

WRITER EMMA HANNIGAN has died following  a long battle with cancer.

She was aged just 45.

The news was confirmed by Breast Cancer Ireland on Twitter.

“BCI wish to extend our deepest sympathies to the family of our dear friend Emma Hannigan who lost her battle with cancer earlier today,” it said.

RIP.

Hannigan had revealed less than two weeks ago that her 11-year battle with the disease had become terminal.

“My medical team have thrown everything but the kitchen sink at this fight but all avenues have now been exhausted,” Hannigan wrote in a blog post announcing the news.

“To say that I’m heartbroken doesn’t begin to cover it,” she said.

That revelation had lead to a number of her writer colleagues to join forces in a bid to push her latest novel, Letters to my Daughters (published on 9 February) to the top spot on the bestseller list.

On the back of that social media movement, Dubray Books announced that it would donate all profits from Letters to my Daughters to Breast Cancer Ireland, of which Hannigan was an ambassador.

Hannigan was first diagnosed with the disease, one she went on to battle a harrowing 10 times, in 2007.