A brave Irish woman recounts her cancer hell

As cancer outcomes improve, there has been a slew of stories from survivors who refuse to let cancer grind them down. Unfortunately, it does grind down tens of thousands of people including Maria Woulfe, who carries the BRCA2 gene and lost her mother and cousin to the gene

Not many stories are published about the harsh, grim facts about cancer and what it robs from your life. Well I don’t even know where to begin with my bullshit cancer story. I despise this word, this disease, this disgusting insidious thing that has robbed me, my husband and my family of so much. All I know is that I’m sitting here in my kitchen after having our Sunday roast dinner and my beautiful mam is not here to enjoy it with us. She has lost her “battle” only weeks ago.

In January 2011, my beautiful little boy, Colm was born just one day after my mam’s 58th birthday. Life was bliss, it was utterly normal, we were a happy 30-something year old couple with a little bundle of joy. Despite the downturn in the economy where my husband’s work as a carpenter/joinery business had ceased, we were very hopeful we would be ok. I was a primary school teacher and had a steady wage coming in at least and I knew my husband would do something as he always had a strong work ethic.