The part Kenny show on news talk with Marter private network during current restrictions. Don't ignore your health concerns. Our expert team is ready to help. My next guest is a P.E. and science teacher from Rajini, a breast cancer survivor with which he was diagnosed in 2017. She documented her treatment and recovery journey on social media, reaching thousands of followers and inspired people with her positive outlook throughout her journey. She's since become a spokesperson for Breast Cancer Ireland, and she joins us on World Cancer Day.

Emma Cassidy.

Good morning and welcome IPOs. Thanks so much for having me on. It's great to have you back, because the last time we spoke, you just finished chemotherapy and radiotherapy. So have you been since? I've been great.

Thanks so much. It seems so long ago since I was out with you and we ended up talking about Britney Spears, I think, and chicken nuggets. So a lot has happened since then.

Now we've had the pandemic in the meantime and lockdown. And of course, you were a teacher and trying to do things from home. But something else very important has happened to you.

Has I recently called my mother to Baby Sam. He's eight weeks old now and he's absolutely changed our lives and we couldn't be happier with them. Problem being that not everyone that you'd like to meet, Sam, has got to meet Sam because of the pandemic, no, that's been the toughest part. Like a lot of my friends and even some of our family members haven't got to meet them. And obviously, babies are like change every day. And he's gotten so big now.

So that's been really tough for us that he hasn't had the kind of interaction with people the way we would have liked. But obviously it has to happen in order to keep everybody safe. But it is very tough.

Yeah. How old are Sumner? He's eight weeks old. Oh, he's very, very new, very fresh, and you're on a very steep learning curve, I suspect. Oh, absolutely.

I wouldn't have really had much experience with babies before. To be totally honest with you. So everything is new every day. There's something different that happens that we have to adapt to and learn before. It's been absolutely amazing. And he's really just been like the light of our lives. So couldn't be.

Have you have you managed to expand your bubble a bit to get a bit of help? You know, people would come and visit.

Yeah, we have we have a couple of people that like our safe to visit. So that's been great. Obviously, you know, with such a big change in your life, it is important that you're able to kind of lean on some people. And, you know, both of the grandmothers have been fantastic. So we've we really learned so much from them and they've helped us quite a lot.

Now, your diagnosis was pretty quick, pretty rapid and pretty extreme, wasn't it?

Oh, absolutely. The biggest shock, obviously, of my life was only 30 years of age. Never in a million years thought that I would be someone who would get cancer and didn't really have a big history of it in my family. And I was quite naive about it all, to be honest. Yeah. I was diagnosed at the end of June in twenty seventeen and spent like a whole day in the hospital getting tested and still didn't think anything would be wrong with me.

And then when I was diagnosed, it was then just like a blur and a whirlwind of treatment that followed within two weeks. I'd had a double mastectomy a couple of weeks after that into chemotherapy, then into radiotherapy. So the whole thing was just a very frightening experience that we spoke to a number of times during your journey.

But you were incredibly optimistic all the time. Maybe it's just your nature that you were, by definition, a cheery person, always seeing the bright side rather than the dark side. Yeah, I think I am very positive by nature, but that's just not for me, that's obviously as well. From all the support on the people I have around me, I have such amazing family and friends and like my in my work, my work colleagues and all the students, everybody is just so supportive to me.

Breast cancer, Ireland obviously have been a massive support and helped me through such a tough time. And so I suppose when you have that kind of support system around you, it's a lot easier to be optimistic and positive that you're going to come through. Now, obviously, you had a very daunting set of therapies between radiotherapy and chemotherapy, and given your diagnosis at the age of 30, you're thinking, what about my fertility?

Obviously, your fertility is fine.

Thank you very much. Yes, but that must have been a worry. That was very.

Yeah, it was. You know, I suppose when I was starting out with the chemotherapy and the surgery, I was just so focused on getting through that thought at the time. I suppose it wasn't kind of at the forefront of my mind. I just kind of wanted to get through that and get better. But then I and then when the treatment finished and, you know, your appointments are kind of finished and he's a lot more thinking time on your hands and all of those kind of thoughts can kind of creep in on you.

You're thinking, oh, my goodness, I never had even considered this. You know, is is there a chance that I won't be a mother, you know? So, yeah, it was definitely kind of something that I was trying to kind of come to terms with that, you know, it might get the opportunity to be a mother.

So it makes it all the more special now that I am now.

Since the last time we spoke and you had finished your chemotherapy and radiotherapy, have you had to undergo other medical procedures and did you have to do any more investigations?

And since the last time we spoke, I had a breast reconstruction that was done a year after my all of the rest of my treatment and but apart from that, no, I haven't had to have anything else. Please, thank God I've been in great health since and hopefully continues. But, yeah, I've just had my normal checkups and my normal clinic appointments and my yearly scan. So thank God everything so far has been great.

Now, the question of genetic information, did you find out anything about your own situation? You said nothing ran in the family.

There was no red flags. Yeah, I actually always assumed that people who got breast cancer, it was something that ran in their family, that that was like the most common thing. But actually it's not most breast cancers aren't actually genetic. It's more unusual for it to be genetic. When I finished my treatment, I actually did get a genetic test done and the hospital recommended me for because of my age and the type of breast cancer I have, which is triple negative.

And so my genetic test came back that I was back on. I had the Broca one gene, which was a massive blow to me, to be honest, almost tougher than the cancer diagnosis because, you know, you can't change your mind. You can have treatment and hopefully get better with a genetic abnormality. You can change your whole genetic makeup. So that was kind of a really hard pill to swallow. I kind of felt like, gosh, after the year I've had to comb through everything and had this traumatizing treatment and surgery and everything like that.

And I was told, after all, that's OK, you have this gene and now you're at risk of ovarian cancer and other things. So it was very difficult. It was. Now, at this point, obviously, it is potentially hereditary, it can be a 50 percent shot that someone will inherit, but you would hope that, you know, in the case of Sam, because guys can have the BRCA gene to, you know, by the time he's in his reproductive years, yeah, there will be treatments because the treatments are advancing so rapidly.

There would be gene therapies and all sorts of things. So it's not something that you need to concern yourself about for him at this early stage.

But it is, you know, a cautionary tale for people to know as much as they can, though, because it can be lifesaving. Oh, absolutely.

That's kind of the look I would take. I kind of feel like knowledge is power and the more you're informed about something that you can do better. Obviously, Sam is only eight weeks old, so it's not something that, you know, would would concern him. Yes. But it'll be something that we'll gradually kind of bring up to as you get older and like a soft way, we won't do it in kind of a frightening way because we don't want him to grow up with fear.

But, you know, we'll make them aware of kind of what happens with me and, you know, what this gene is and, you know, let him make up his mind when he's older, like if he wants to take that test or not, because obviously you wouldn't want to force something on him.

But definitely I would say to people, especially on World Cancer Day, if you feel there's something abnormal in your body or something just doesn't feel right, even in the current climate with the pandemic, please go to your GP and get checked because you will be seen. And that is just so important because things like cancer, people like cancer doesn't stop just because there's another an illness or virus happening. Cancer will always be there, unfortunately.

So just to encourage people to keep those appointments and just be vigilant and be your own advocate for your health, you know, and the website Breast Cancer, Ireland dot dotcom is a very useful resource. Oh, it's fantastic.

So Breast Cancer, Ireland, an amazing charity and they're all about education and awareness.

They're still running online, online classes to help teach people about breast health and things like that. They're still raising funds. Obviously, they've had to alter their plans a lot. A lot of the fundraising there was virtual. All this money goes into pioneering research, clinical trials. So it makes a massive difference on people's lives. So really, really important charity.

I presume you're talking to me from home at the moment, are you? I am indeed. I'm very impressed with some not a peep out of some.

Well, my partner keeps them in the other room will be crying. I can't your room at the moment.

No, I'm listening very acutely to see if I can discern even the smallest thing. But anyway, look, it's great to talk to you again. I wish it was in person. Maybe the next time we talk, it will be back in the studio again. But it's lovely to hear from you. And congratulations once again on on your recent parenthood, on the birth of baby Sam. And hopefully all of your family will get to see and hug Sam in the not too distant future before he starts growing a beard, at least thanks to me.

OK, I'm all the best. Bye bye.