Kathryn Thomas: Don’t let fear get in the way of getting health checks

RTÉ’s Kathryn Thomas worked closely with medics and patients for an upcoming TV series. Spending so much time in hospitals reminded her of the importance of regular health checks

Fri, 20 Oct, 2023 - 12:21

Helen O’Callaghan

IT’S AN unseasonably warm October Monday morning and Kathryn Thomas has just had her first weekend off in a while. She’s “in flying form”, in shorts and a T-shirt, sunscreen on, and has just walked Ellie, 5, to school, and Grace — two next week — to her childminder.

She an d her husband, Padraig McLoughlin, spent the weekend gardening. “We had a barbecue last night. We were winterising the garden and putting the barbecue in the shed — but it was 20 degrees and we thought, hang on, let’s light it and say goodbye to summer.”

The TV presenter was busy all summer working on a new RTÉ six-part My BodyFix, which begins next Tuesday. The medical series follows six patients, each with different illnesses and injuries as they brace themselves for surgery.

My BodyFix showcases the latest in virtual reality and 3D imaging technology, with patients seeing inside their own bodies, their medical conditions brought to life — meanwhile, their surgical consultants answer questions about the proposed treatments that will fix the issue.

While the patients begin to clearly understand where their problem lies, what the surgery entails and what’s at stake, the TV audience gets to grasp common medical complaints and how they can be treated.

The series was challenging to shoot, says Kathryn. “It was quite haphazard. I didn’t have a schedule to stick to. Basically, the dominoes had to be lined up — get the consultant on board, the hospital on board, find the right patient who’d be comfortable on camera, days in theatre had to be boxed off — so it could be quite last minute.

“It was at the behest of theatre availability so I might get a day’s notice — ‘Be up in Belfast tomorrow’.”

Explaining the show’s premise — which is to highlight the importance of the patient having autonomy around their own health — Kathryn says: “It showcases the doctor-patient partnership and how this provides confidence and relieves fear for the patient.”

Normalising injury

Stories from the series include a heart bypass and valve replacement, an anterior cruciate ligament (knee) operation, a polycystic kidney case, and a tri-way ankle operation. “The patient puts on a virtual reality headset and the consultant talks them through, for example, a 3D model of their heart. There’s a lot less medical jargon — it’s very much Joe Soap language, like, ‘Can you see the bit highlighted in blue, we need to cut that from there, reattach this and plug that’.

“The visual representation is so powerful because it allows the patient to understand the surgical journey ahead of them and the why of the surgery that’ll be done,” says Kathryn, who was present in theatre for the first two surgical procedures.

“I didn’t dread going in, and it wasn’t the blood, but after the first two I felt I wasn’t great there — it was more the sounds, like the sound of the drilling. I thought I’m better off outside, where I can be with the patient’s loved ones, the people who are worried, and be there when the consultant comes out and gives their synopsis.”

Among the line-up of patients is Galway hurling star David Burke, who is featured as he decides whether surgery for a torn anterior cruciate ligament is the right course for him. “I asked why he was taking part and he said he wanted to put out a message of normalising injury. He has seen so many young people, where injury has massively, detrimentally impacted their mental health — in their mind, their life is over. His message is it’s OK to get injured, it doesn’t mean the end of your world, that ‘yes, injury has hampered my career but I’m hoping to get back to full play’.”

The patients whose cases most touched Kathryn were the ones with recurring issues. “When people get a second knock — they’ve recovered from cancer and then it’s, ‘Sorry, it’s back again’.”

Family as the antidote

Spending so much time in hospitals was a reminder, she says, of the importance of regular health checks — and of encouraging loved ones to get checked too.

“Padraig turned 55 this week and on the day before his birthday, I’d booked him in to get a full blood check. It’s my annual birthday present to him. I countered it by bringing him out for dinner and a bottle of wine on Friday.”

She makes the appointment because of the “amount of life-saving intervention” she has seen. “And in a lot of cases, it’s because wives said ‘Go and get that looked at’. Fear is never an excuse [for not getting checked] when you have a fabulous life to lead.”

Acknowledging how intense the summer was — “being in hospital environments, meeting people who are sick and have life-altering surgery ahead of them” — Kathryn says taking two weeks off with Ellie and Grace in Wexford in August was a great antidote. “I had a lot of time at home and in the garden with them over the summer.”

The two girls are “as thick as thieves and have great craic” together. “Ellie goes around like a little granny. She tells Grace, ‘Eat with your mouth closed’ — and we think the child’s a genius if she gets the food in her mouth at all.”

An end-of-summer highlight was co-hosting the Rose of Tralee with Dáithí Ó Sé. Kathryn loved being part of this “powerful messaging” from women.

“It’s very rare you get 32 women standing shoulder-to-shoulder celebrating each other’s achievements and having the craic. And these are modern 20-something women living in a modern world.”

While she’s starting into production for Operation Transformation around now, there’s another date ringed on her calendar — little Grace’s birthday next Thursday.

“We’re going to Wildlands in Galway. I’ve never been, but it has all sorts of stuff for kids — mazes, zip wires.”

Knowing Kathryn, she’ll be throwing herself in with gusto too.