FEATURE: From healthy living to cancer, and back again

EMMA NEVILLE is preparing her garden for spring. With her short blonde hair and Hunter wellies, she’s teaching her four children to plant bulbs in old tyres, and to feed the birds in houses made of recycled floorboards from the attic of their pink-painted house in the country.

Neville, 40, does not drink alcohol, eats home-grown organic fruit and vegetables, drinks wheatgrass juice and green tea, does not use hair and beauty products that contain chemicals, and exercises and meditates. She will participate in next month’s annual Kinsale Pink Ribbon walk, in aid of Action Breast Cancer. In 2011, without symptoms or family history, Neville was diagnosed with breast cancer. “I was the embodiment of healthy living. I had a fantastic exercise regime and diet, was below the average weight, didn’t smoke and was only a moderate drinker,” says Neville, who had a heavy cough and two prolonged bouts of flu.

“I went to the GP, because I just wanted to get things checked out and to rule out any scary things. I thought they were going to tell me that I was fine, but, instead, there were hushed voices,” says Neville, a solicitor, TV presenter, and garden designer.

Her diagnosis was a “dark zone”, and a “terrifying journey. I had several days where I felt like I’d been run over by an 18-wheeler. All the indicators are there that if you live an unhealthy life, you’ll be prone to it. But there’s a luck factor to it, too. I wondered why I had got it and how unfair it was. I didn’t have one big tumour, but, rather, a multitude of specks. I think of cancer as a field of flowers with dandelions coming up through it.”

Within a month of diagnosis, Neville had a mastectomy and a breast reconstruction, and recovered quickly from surgery. “Reconstructive surgery is phenomenal, you can be made look feminine again,” says Neville. Chemotherapy and radiation were more difficult. “Chemotherapy broke me. You don’t know what it’s going to do to your body. It broke my heart to bring fear into my children’s lives. They found it hard to understand that my treatment made me so sick. I’ll always remember all those days spent in bed with the lights off and the curtains drawn, and not being able to be a mum to my kids,” she says.

Neville and her husband, Philip, were honest with their children about the illness, but it all became too real when her long, blonde hair fell out. “My daughter was devastated at the change in my appearance. It really makes you a cancer victim when you’re bald,” says Neville. Her hair started to grow back last August.

Neville focused on being healthy. “Right from diagnosis up to treatment, my focus was on diet. This included juicing, and no alcohol or coffee. I wanted to keep my body clean and alkaline,” says Neville. “It’s all about being as healthy as I can, so at least I can say I tried everything. Cancer does change your life, because the awful thing is it can come back. That’s always at the back of your mind, it’s a huge burden.”

Neville started running again in December, and plans to return to work as a solicitor in April. “I think I’ll be very emotional when I cross the finish line at the Kinsale Pink Ribbon walk. My cancer was caught early, but there are no guarantees. My message is to be breast aware. But it’s also vitally important to be wellness aware and aware of your general health. If you’re feeling run down, listen to your body.”

* The Kinsale Pink Ribbon walk, Sunday, Mar 3, at 12pm, in aid of Action Breast Cancer. Registration, €20, on www.pinkribbonwalk.ie