Evelyn O’Rourke: My baby and my cancer ‘were like neighbours’ during pregnancy

Broadcaster Evelyn O’Rourke speaks to Stephen Teap and Lynsey Bennett as she investigates cancer care for women in Ireland

Wed, 12 May, 2021 - 22:35

Denise O’Donoghue

During her second pregnancy 10 years ago, broadcaster Evelyn O’Rourke was diagnosed with breast cancer.

“What I found hard to understand was that you had a baby here,” she says, pointing to her stomach, “and you had cancer here. They were like neighbours.”

In a new documentary for TG4, she explores the experiences of women who are diagnosed with cancer today.

O’Rourke meets women, their families, doctors, and service providers in a feature-length authored documentary to investigate the various elements that women with cancer experience in their diagnosis and treatment. She also explores how to deliver an effective and humane service for every woman experiencing cancer.

Her 2014 memoir ‘Dear Ross’ charts her journey and since O’Rourke’s own illness, she has worked as an advocate for Cancer Trials Ireland. Now she aims to find out what has changed in that time for the 10,500 Irish women diagnosed with cancer each year.

The documentary also touches upon the impact of Covid-19 on both the health system and cancer care. O’Rourke visits the homes of women who share their stories of suffering, loss, endurance and love.

Among those who meet with O’Rourke are Cork widower and 221+ activist Stephen Teap, whose wife Irene died of cervical cancer following a misread CervicalCheck smear.

”There was no need for any of this. Irene didn’t have to die,” Teap tells O’Rourke.

She also meets Longford mother Lynsey Bennett who recently travelled to Mexico for cancer treatment, to discuss the support needed for women with cancer.

Rachel Morrogh of the Irish Cancer Society tells O’Rourke that the biggest threat to cancer care today is the impact Covid-19 is having on the service.

In Cork, Dr Nóirín Russell, the director of CervicalCheck tells O’Rourke about the viability of the screening programme in the light of the CervicalCheck scandal and GP Dr Sarah Fitzgibbon, who is living with Stage 4 bowel cancer, says recent cancer research and medical advancements have given her a good quality of life.

She also meets country and western singer Rose McConnon, who has terminal cancer and shares her uplifting philosophy of life.