‘It’s a different life... but it’s enriched by people I’ve met’

When Kathy Hegarty received the diagnosis that she had breast cancer almost five years ago, she could never have imagined the ways in which her life would change – in many ways for the better!

Kathy (57), from the Creggan area of Derry, a mother of four and grandmother of five, was preparing for her daughter Tanya’s wedding in Italy when she discovered a lump under her arm in 2014.

However, the busyness of preparing for her daughter’s wedding meant she put getting it checked out on the long finger.

After the wedding celebrations were all over, Kathy found the lump again and made an appointment with her G.P. Within two weeks, she had a hospital appointment but opted not to tell anyone in her family about her situation.

“Deep down in the pit of my stomach. I knew I was going to get a diagnosis of cancer,” she told the ‘Journal.’

“They did a mammogram and a biopsy and I broke out in a cold sweat just thinking about it.

“I returned home, made myself a cup of tea because I had to go back to the hospital in 40 minutes to get the results.

“When I got back to hospital, I was told I had two tumours in my breast,” noted Kathy.

She explains that it was an aggressive cancer and she was told a Mastectomy would be necessary.

“When you’re told you have cancer all you can think is ‘I have to survive.’ If that meant I had to give up something to survive, I knew I’d do that,” she maintained.

Informing her husband, Seosamh and her four children, was something she dreaded but she said the advice she got from cancer care nurses at the time was that children, even older ones, cope better with the diagnosis of a parent when they’re told immediately.

“It was hard on them. I always knew my children loved me, but I don’t think I knew how much they loved me until that moment.

“It was hard on my husband, too. He just said he wished it was him and if he could take it from me, he would. I was glad it was me, because I knew I could cope,” said Kathy.

She broke the news to Sharon, Tanya, Aaron and Shona reassuring them that she was going to be okay.

“I just said they can have whatever parts of me they want, but I will get through this treatment.”

She had the surgery to remove her breast in June, 2014 and was home the next day.

Kathy admits that the year following her surgery was tough and said said at times she felt lost.

“You do lose yourself. There were days I woke up and I didn’t know where I was. You’re still in fear for your health. I knew cancer would be my battle for the rest of my life,” she said.

However Kathy believes that the diagnosis and her subsequent recovery also made her look at her lifestyle.

She said it made her look at her physical health – she wanted to get fitter – and her emotional health – she found that talking openly to the nurses at her check-ups kept her spirits up.

“I feel much better now than I’ve ver done before and my mind is in a better place.

“I like to say my cup is half full, not half empty. There were so many dark days but I attended therapy and the therapist used to state: ‘Why don’t you just park that thought for a while and come back to it?’

In a strange way it was also the cancer situation which fashioned a return to her love of singing.

As a younger woman she’d had her voice trained and she began to sing regularly in the choir in St Mary’s.

Kathy then was introduced to Maureen Collins, one of the organisers of the Pink Ladies Cancer Support Group, which meets in the Bishop Street Community Centre every Wednesday and was taken under their wing.

She also joined the Pink Ladies Choir whose members sing for their health following a cancer diagnosis.

And a delighted Kathy said the group had proved to be a tower of strength, not just to her, but to other women like her, who get one another through a dark period in their lives.

“It’s great to see everyone’s face. Our choir mistress, Siobhan Heaney, is so upbeat. Sometimes you don’t get the song immediately – it can take a few weeks - but we get there,” smiled Kathy.

The highlights of her rekindling her love of singing included performing at the Guildhall at Christmastime and getting together with the doctors and nurses of the North West Cancer Choir to join forces in music.

“I never miss a morning at Bishop Street. We women are really strong characters. When you get a cancer diagnosis, you don’t have the life you once had.

“It’s a different life but I’m very much enriched by the people I’ve met.

“Life is good for me now. I’d be lost without the Pink Ladies – I’ve made friends for life,” concluded a confident Kathy.

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