Brought to you by the Irish Cancer Society.
“I felt like I was dragged through a bush backwards.”
In 2015, mum Valerie Gaynor found a lump in her breast while she was having a shower. She was referred for Triple Assessment where she was given the worst possible outcome – she had bi lateral breast cancer.
At 47 years old, Valerie had to undergo bilateral lumpectomies and lymph removal, followed by an exhausting round of chemotherapy.
The treatment itself was gruelling, but Valerie also described the difficulty of settling back into everyday life afterwards.
“Once I got through all that, trying to get back to normality was tough. I felt exhausted, like I was dragged through a bush backwards for a year. It’s only now that I’m starting to get my old energy levels back.”
Getting support
For her, the Irish Cancer Society was an invaluable resource, for both support and advice.
“I needed information, but I needed it in levels I could digest and at times when I wanted to digest it. Sometimes when you get your diagnosis the information can be very clinical. You can also feel quite isolated. You don’t want to put too much of a burden on friends and family but your mind is racing all the time. That’s where the Cancer Nurse in the Daffodil Centre came in.”
The Daffodil Centres provide cancer information, support, and advice to anyone worried about cancer in 13 hospitals around the country.
The Centres are staffed by nurses and trained volunteers and help over 40,000 people in Ireland annually.
The nurses at the Daffodil Centres provide huge support to people experiencing or recovering from cancer as well as to their family members. For Valerie, their help was not just practical but also hugely beneficial to her mental health.
“It was great to be able to go in there and get the info when I needed it. I was there for over an hour and it was like a therapy session. I came out feeling much better about myself and the future.”
How you can help
The Irish Cancer Society are encouraging people nationwide to host a Cups Against Breast Cancer coffee morning this October to aid in the fight against breast cancer. The money raised at these events will go towards research and towards helping breast cancer patients like Valerie and their families.
The mornings are bound to be great fun and will help the Irish Cancer Society continue to provide their much-needed help.
So, go on, get your cups out for this wonderful cause and sign up here to host a Cups Against Breast Cancer coffee morning.
Brought to you by the Irish Cancer Society.
