Deirdre’s Letter – Survive&Thrive

My journey to survive

My journey began in January 2020 with those words you never want to hear, “it’s cancer”. My world changed that day, my new normal was cancer. What was happening?

Surgery was immediate and I headed into my chemo journey the same week in March that we locked down with Covid. Five months of chemo resulting in hair loss, nausea, fatigue, things I never thought I would have to ever deal with in my life. Things I never thought my kids would have to see me go through. Isolation followed, huge isolation.

Summer came, chemo finished, radiotherapy started, hair started growing again. My kids went back to school in September and things felt somewhat normal. But things will never be normal again, my old normal has vanished. People see your treatment finished, hair coming back, & think it’s the old you back again, it couldn’t be further from the truth.

November brought genetic testing followed by a BRCA mutation diagnosis. My journey continues.

Then, one year post initial diagnosis, I found the fantastic resource that is The Marie Keating Foundation, and I have never looked back. The support that has been provided to me has been phenomenal, I could never have anticipated.

So to the entire Foundation and especially to my fellow Survive and Thrive new found friends, I cannot ever thank all of you enough. Keep up the thriving and keep up the good work, you are all amazing!