'I tried to stay upbeat for everybody, I kind of lost myself': How counselling helps with healing

Cancer treatment and rounds of appointments can keep patients busy and reassured, but when they end, many feel alone. This is where psycho-oncology begins

Sinéad Lambe, left, who was treated for cancer. with Dr Sinéad Lynch, psychologist at the Mater Hospital, Dublin. Picture: Moya Nolan.

On her 45th birthday, Sinéad Lambe was measured for a colostomy bag. It was summer 2023, and Lambe, from Dublin’s north city centre area, had not been “feeling the best” for several months. 

“I was alternating between constipation and diarrhoea. I thought maybe it was IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) or perimenopause.”