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Since I started this job back in August I have had a whirlwind of experiences – from the Ploughing match and the Woman & Agriculture Conference, to having the opportunity to give my opinions outside of the general cohort of people who are normally subjected to them: my family and friends. Some of these experiences were expected, I knew that they would come with the job, but some were less expected and more challenging. Many times I have felt unsure of what I was doing and I would get a knot in my stomach with the uncertainty. How and ever, to maximise our lives and our potential, opportunities, in whatever shape they come, must be grasped as they become available – as we do not know when they will stop being offered.
When someone dies young or you hear of a tragic accident, there is a tendency to say ‘well that puts things in perspective’ and for a while it does, and we have an appreciation for life and an ability to cope with our own issues for another while. Most of the time, as it is someone else’s life, we have the capacity to move on and eventually to forget.
Sometimes it is not possible to forget, as the grief is closer to home. This is the second week that our features editor Maria Moynihan writes about love and loss, and this is the second week that I have cried reading it. We had a lovely, positive response to Aisling Meehan’s article about her mum, Maureen, last week and I am sure that Tara and Jades’ story (pages 6-7) will touch many people’s hearts also. This story is particularly close to my heart as I lost my own sister, Brig, to cancer in June of 2016 and every word of this reads as if I wrote it myself. Brig was a livewire to say the least and her passing at 29 left a massive, gaping hole in our family. We had family photos taken the Christmas before she passed away, one sister was sick, the children were all uncooperative and my brother wasn’t happy we were all wearing white shirts, but as this was to be the last time we were all together, all well, they are now the most precious photos that we have.
Over the latest two papers, our health columnist, Margaret Hawkins, has been discussing cancer, last week talking about Cervical Check and the way forward and this week being breast aware.
Our health system is far from perfect and ‘screening’ has for many become a word associated with failure. However, Dr Scally in his report on the cervical check screening programme said that ‘a good cervical cancer screening programme should pick up 75% of cancers’. It is still very important to go and have the screening. Dr Deirdre Duke from Beaumont Hospital and Breast Cancer Ireland gives advice (page 20) on not just attending your screening mammogram if sent, but also being focused on checking yourself every month.
My mum says that Brig is looking out for me now, while also spouting a range of derogatory comments such as ‘what is that one yattering on about now?’ So I will keep grasping for the opportunities that she was never afforded. As Daragh, this week’s cover story says, ‘feel the fear and do it anyway’. CL
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