Facing cancer twice left me terrified, but I found hope by speaking out, says Dublin woman

A WOMAN has told how she was left “terrified” after facing cancer for the second time.

Ruth O’Sullivan, from Dublin, was originally diagnosed with aggressive breast cancer in 2014 after finding a small lump.

After going through chemotherapy and radiotherapy, the 55-year-old was deemed cancer-free in 2015.

She was physically doing well, but had to get over the toll the treatment took on her mental health.

Speaking to the Irish Sun, she explained: “It took a long time to get over that and start feeling safe again, because it was always on my mind that it would come back.

“It took at least about five or six years to stop thinking every little thing was the cancer coming back.

“I didn’t do well mentally after that at all. I went into medical menopause so that was going on in the background but this is 10 years ago now so at the time there wasn’t as much information about menopause and the effects that it could have.

“Mentally, I didn’t do well at all. I was highly anxious — terrified, really — all the time during and after treatment.

“I felt very unsafe, my foundations had been stripped away.

“It’s just so important to look after your mental health as well as your physical health because a lot of the times, especially when you’re finished treatment, people will say ‘that’s fantastic you’re through the treatment’ and it’s absolutely brilliant but there’s also that sense of ‘what the hell just happened’, and that uncertainty of ‘where do I go now?’ Then that fear that it will come back. 

“I’d be a strong advocate for people looking after their mental health and using any services that they can, for example the counseling services that the Irish Cancer Society provides and their helpline – there is help out there.”

But then in 2023, she got the horrifying news for a second time. 

Ruth started noticing a bad pain in her hip and back – but thought it was sciatica as she had suffered from chronic back pain since she was a teenager.

She began attending physiotherapy and doing exercises, but the intensity of the pain led to an MRI.

‘Quite a shock’

And a visit to the doctor confirmed her worst fears – she had cancer again.

Ruth said: “I went for an MRI and they discovered a very large mass, which turned out to be a non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma cancer.

“It’s a completely different cancer from the first one, so that was quite a shock.

“I had just gotten to the point where I started feeling safe again and then I was just knocked back.”

During her journey with cancer the second time around, she turned to The Daffodil Centre for support, leaning on their volunteers to process the “whirlwind” of information she was receiving.

She explained: “It was really great to have that facility, to be able to chat and try to start making sense of all the information that I was getting.

“I felt that as professionals they understood what was going on and where I was coming from – that was really important that I had that available to me.”

Ruth said her family were also in shock at her second diagnosis. 

She said: “My family were shocked, of course; they just couldn’t believe that this was happening again with a different cancer.

“My dad said ‘there’s four kids and what are the chances of one of the kids getting cancer twice?’”.

Due to the size, placement, and the fact that the tumour had woven into her bones and even ended up breaking her pelvic bone, it was inoperable — meaning she had to go through chemotherapy and radiotherapy again.

Ruth is now cancer-free but continues to be closely monitored, and wants to encourage people that there is hope after a recurrence, or second round of cancer.

‘Don’t lose hope’

She said: “One of the important things was that support and being able to talk about it, hearing other people’s stories of people thriving and surviving even after multiple cancers or recurrences. 

“On the Irish Cancer Society website, they have stories of people’s experiences, which have been really helpful to know that there is hope.

“The treatments have progressed and come a long way and the research is constantly bringing up new options.

“I would say don’t lose hope and talk, if it helps you feel better to talk about it.”

Ruth wants to get across the importance of the public helping the Irish Cancer Society, who receive just five per cent from the Government – the rest are from fundraisers and Daffodil Day.