Orla Freeman: Hospice care gave me the headspace to be there for Shane as his wife

For the last 11 weeks of his life, Orla Freeman’s husband, Shane, was under palliative care at Mayo Hospice in Castlebar. A year on, Orla tells Helen O’Callaghan how those weeks gave Shane quality time and how she realised palliative care is not about keeping you alive but about keeping you living

Orla Freeman: 'Hospice guided us as to when we should say certain things. Neither the boys nor I have any regrets.'

My husband Shane lived so well with cancer for six years. He had chemo every two weeks; he’d have bad days, but they’d come to an end. There’d be good days too; there was nothing he couldn’t do on those days.

He never felt he was battling cancer; he said he was living with it and he called cancer his travelling companion, until the beginning of the last six months of his life — April 2025. He started experiencing very severe pain. Between April and June we had to cancel family occasions and a holiday. Shane was spending more time in bed, something he hadn’t done before.