Cancer Support Group is ‘a service the community couldn’t be without’

WHEN Audrey Hillary was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2019, she didn’t know where to turn as she was the first person in her immediate and extended family to be diagnosed with cancer.

Audrey, 44, from Kiltipper in Tallaght, praised the unerring support her family gave her during her cancer treatment, but she felt she also needed support from people who’d gone through treatment.

While receiving treatment in St James’ Hospital, Audrey was made aware of the work of the Tallaght Cancer Support Group (TCSG) and found a service that was a key part of getting her through cancer treatment.

“I made contact with the Tallaght Cancer Support Group after the hospital told me about them,” Audrey explained.

“They offered a lot of different things, like counselling, meditation, acupuncture and reflexology, and they helped me through my treatment and had a huge impact on my recovery.

“Even the drop-in centre, where you could just drop-in and talk to people who had the same experiences as you…it’s a service the community couldn’t be without and, in my case, it was absolutely imperative in my treatment.

“From the holistic therapy side of things, I felt they really helped me. I suffered with terrible pain in my hands and joints when I was going through chemo, and the acupuncture really helped.”

From the emotional side of things, Audrey said the fact that no one else in her family had ever been diagnosed with cancer would’ve led to her feeling isolated were it not for the help from others in the TCSG.

“The big thing, for me, was that I was the first person in my extended and immediate family to ever be diagnosed with cancer,” she said.

“Even though my family were supportive, they didn’t know how to help me, but the group gave me somewhere I could go to where they understood what I was going through.

“The group understands because they’ve all been through it, and they offered huge emotional support that I couldn’t get anywhere else.”

Audrey underwent four months of IV chemo, four months of radiation and six months of oral chemotherapy and is now no longer actively receiving treatment and is instead monitored.

The clerical worker is now three years into the five-year period that’s required before her cancer can be considered to be in remission, and she is thankful for the support the TCSG provided her with.

“If they don’t find a place to help people, I think it’d be a travesty to not have the service available, because I found the place unbelievably helpful,” Audrey added.

Audrey spoke with The Echo as part of a TCSG appeal to find a new premises in the centre of Tallaght.