The Marie Keating Foundation will host a free five-week survivorship programme for men and women recovering from cancer as part of its Survive and Thrive series. The programme will include advice from experts on issues that cancer survivors often face including coping with feeling and change, managing lingering side effects after treatment, changing nutritional needs, physical activity and stress management. The course, which is open to men and women who have survived any type of cancer, will take place each Wednesday evening from 30 March to 27 April 2016 from 6pm to 8.30pm in the Royal Marine Hotel, Dun Laoghaire.  It will be facilitated by Kevin McCaughey and supported by Helen Forristal, Director of Nursing Services, Marie Keating Foundation.

The course is free to attend but places are limited and registration is essential.  To register your interest, please complete the form below or contact Angela Egan, the Marie Keating Foundation, on 01 628 3726.

Why a survivorship course can help

Helen Forristal, Director of Nursing Services, Marie Keating Foundation, said, “There are now more than 124,000 people in Ireland who have survived cancer. This is great cause for celebration.  However, we now know that once treatment ends, people can stull struggle with some issues that cancer brings to their doorstep. The Marie Keating Foundation is here to provide support as people learn to cope with the ‘new normal.’ Everyone will have their own unique experiences and responses but by coming together and getting some expert advice, this adjustment can be made a lot easier. We are looking forward to helping people who have been through cancer treatment not only to survive but also to thrive.”

Words from a cancer survivor

Roisin Dunne, a cancer survivor who attended Marie Keating Foundation Survive and Thrive programme in 2015, said, “I found the Survive and Thrive workshop to be hugely helpful. It was great to know that I wasn’t alone through meeting other survivors and hear that they were going through similar experiences. The expert advice was something that is badly needed and, in my opinion, a really necessary part of the healing process. It’s important to not only survive, but thrive, after cancer, but we need to help and support each other through this so I would encourage anyone who is struggling in any area post-treatment to get in touch with the Marie Keating Foundation about the Survive and Thrive workshop.”