How I – TWICE! – got membership of a club I never wanted to be a part of

A few years ago, Caroline Mahony had a life that many in this country would identify with.

Then aged 38, she ran a local business – a Centra store in Cork city – with her husband, Niall.

The Bandon-native has two young children: son Josh, now 15, and daughter Erica, now 12.

She enjoyed the likes of walking the dog and “just generally keeping busy”. However, then – at the end of 2011 – something catastrophic happened: Caroline was diagnosed with breast cancer.

“Suddenly,” she explains in conversation with Her, “I was given membership of a club I never wanted to be a part of.

“I had gone to my GP with a chest infection,” she continues, “and at the end of my appointment I just sort of mentioned that I had this sharp pain in my left breast that wouldn’t go away.

“I half dismissed it, but my doctor took it more seriously and insisted I get it checked out.”

And so began Caroline’s harrowing experience with cancer.

Attending Cork University Hospital for treatment, within weeks she’d had two bouts of surgery – both of which were unsuccessful in clearing the tumour. She was scheduled in for further surgery – this time a mastectomy – in April 2012, followed by five months of chemotherapy which eventually wrapped up at the end of November of the same year.

Yesterday I helped launch @CentraIRL's #CupsAgainstCancer campaign 💕 Log onto centra.ie to find out how you can attend your local Centra coffee morning and raise awareness for this very important cause 🙏 #ad pic.twitter.com/QH50xfFymh

— Pippa O'ConnorOrmond (@pipsypie) September 28, 2017

“I thought that would be the end of it,” Caroline says, “I was done and dusted in time for Christmas. However, then I realised pretty quickly that I was about to begin another battle… this time with my mind.

“I’m a tough girl, but I had had this crazy experience – firefighting all the time and caught up in a cycle of treatments, tests, and medical appointments.

“But that’s just the physical fight. When all that stopped, I had to deal with the mental stuff.”

Caroline had support from her wider family and friends – “people to just sometimes chat about nothing when you needed to switch off” – as well as from cancer charity, Cork Arc, Cancer Support House.

Still, her respite was short-lived. In the autumn of 2013, Caroline went for a 5km jog with a friend. Normally fit and an avid fan of the outdoors, the mum-of-two was surprised at how she struggled to catch her breath.

That and she had been noticing deep bruising on her body.

On this occasion, the diagnosis was much more serious: leukaemia. “I was pretty angry the first time around – but getting that second diagnosis of leukaemia was devastating. I felt very hard done by. I thought ‘no way, lads! It’s not my turn again’.

“I was fit, seemingly healthy, still young; it wasn’t right and it didn’t make sense.”

Caroline was back at CUH – but this time in an isolation ward. She spent five long months there, only being allowed out for a week at Christmas.

Intensive chemotherapy, blood transfusions, and bone-marrow biopsies became part-and-parcel of her daily routine.

“With breast cancer I could come and go around my treatment schedule,” she explains, “it was very different to have leukaemia.

“A lot of the time I was driven up the walls with boredom. I spent a lot of time lying in bed, unable to move.”

In February 2014, Caroline was finally able to return home. “It was only then I fully realised how sick I’d been,” she explains. “Looking back, I recognise that there were times when contracting a simple cold could have killed me.

“It’s a lot to consider in the quiet of the night.”

Still, Caroline turned her experiences with cancer into something positive.

“I had been given at one stage during my treatment a voucher for a massage at a fancy spa,” she recalls. “Just as a nice pick-me-up.” In the end, however, the Cork woman discovered that the spa was unable to treat her due to her ongoing chemo.

Frustrated, she trained as a massage therapist – establishing the Touch Therapy Centre in Douglas.

Offering the likes of pampering massages and facials, everything can be adapted for those receiving oncology care.

“In the US and the UK, massage treatments would be a fairly standard part of your cancer treatment; it makes a huge difference to the person in question,” Caroline explains.

“That I’ve been through it all only helps too,” she adds. “I become a friend and confidante to my clients as well as their massage therapist.”

She furthermore runs coffee mornings and fundraising drives every October from her Washington Street branch of Centra.

Indeed, last year she and Niall painted the exterior a head-turning bright pink.

Otherwise, Caroline has found the time to complete the mini-marathon in Cork – raising money for breast cancer research through a sponsorship drive.

These days, she certainly has a refreshing outlook on life. “I still watch my health,” she says. “I always did but now I appreciate it even more.”

She continues: “I seize the moment too. I used to say to Niall ‘oh we’ll do this or we’ll do that when we retire,’ but now I don’t put anything off.

“I have bucket-loads of perspective,” Caroline concludes, “and it’s really wonderful to be able to help others – through touch therapy or through fundraising and driving awareness – in a small way.”

Centra stores are hosting pink walks and coffee mornings across Ireland this October and Centra is calling on the nation to take part to raise funds for the Irish Cancer Society. Visit your local Centra store for details.

Otherwise you can simply text CENTRA to 50300 to donate €4 to the Irish Cancer Society. 

For more details, log on to centra.ie/cancer.