Real Life Stories

In 2020, I was diagnosed with oesophageal gastric junction cancer. The journey to my diagnosis was long and the symptoms I experienced weren’t initially recognisable.

Paddy had been suffering from acid reflux for quite some time. It wasn’t anything major but he was finding it hard to swallow some foods like bread, so we thought something mustn’t be quite right and went to get it checked out.

I had been suffering from quite a lot of heartburn towards the end of 2021. I got increasingly more uncomfortable and remember saying to my husband Andrew that I felt like something was burning a hole inside me.

Back in the summer of 2020, a routine blood test showed that I was very anaemic. Thankfully, my GP noted that I shouldn’t typically be anaemic at my stage of life and referred me for investigations. 

I was 51 years old and I had just completed a job for the Scout association in Crawfordsburn. After this I found myself having some discomfort when eating and thought I had pushed myself too far and developed a hiatus hernia.

I’m so thankful for being given a second chance. It’s been a hell of a roller coaster, but I’ve had more good days than bad days.

I was aware of the symptoms, that’s why I caught it early!

I could so easily have ignored it and not done anything for months

My persistence led to me being diagnosed with oesophageal cancer.

Hope After Cancer

I was thrown in at the deep end of emotions not knowing what was going to come next.

Early detection really does save lives, I am proof of that

When I was diagnosed, we were all numb

It was so distressing and a very anxious time for me