Keeping cancer out in the open

The National Cancer Registry predicts that the incidence of cancer in Ireland will double by 2040.

Deirdre Hegarty, 50, an occupational therapist from Kinsale, Co Cork, knows exactly what it is like to hear that “shocking and horrifying’’ cancer diagnosis.

Now almost 12 years in the clear, she can still vividly recall discovering a small lump in her breast, just days before her daughter made her First Holy Communion.