Cancer patient pays tribute to team at LARCC
The amazing work done by LARCC, the Lakelands Area Retreat and Cancer Centre in Multyfarnham, has helped Marie Hickey and her family get through a Stage 4 cancer diagnosis. “At our weakest moment they scooped us up and gave us the right care, attention and treatment so I could continue to be a parent and a wife,” she told the Westmeath Examiner.
Marie is anxious that others in similar situations are aware of what is available, free of charge, to help them cope with a diagnosis, treatment, and life. “It is only when you need help like that that you realise how hard it is to get it,” she said.
“I will always be grateful I had a young child because I had no option but to get on with it and to keep going. I couldn’t recommend LARCC strongly enough! You have to live with cancer, not die from it, and they help you do just that.”
Marie was “just in the door” from her morning exercise class at LARCC, when we spoke to her. The classes are specifically modified for people that have had cancer surgery and those who are dealing with the side effects of medication.
LARCC runs complementary therapies for people going through cancer and their families. When Marie was first diagnosed she had an eight-year-old daughter, Áine. “How do you explain all that to a child, how do you know the right thing to say? Not many eight-year-olds have to cope with hearing their mammy has Stage 4 cancer.”
It was then that Marie found LARCC most invaluable. She was telling Áine she was going to be fine, but they warned her she could not make a promise to a child that she could not keep. If you tell a child you are going to be fine and then you are not, they are left with a sense of betrayal.
At LARCC, Marie found people who understood the situation she was in and “they were able to hit the ground running with Áine; they didn’t have to spend weeks with the child to understand; they understand cancer and what a child is going through”.
Having grown up on the border during the Troubles, Marie is strong mentally, but her diagnosis hit her hard. She tried to continue as normal, travelling up and down to Dublin for treatment on the train so as not to be a burden, trying to keep the house clean and tidy and trying to maintain parenting standards regarding homework and activities.
She remembers travelling to LARCC one day with Áine and giving out to her about the state of her bedroom. By the time they got there, they were both in tears. Both of them were at their weakest moment and having a meltdown, but the people at LARCC “scooped us up and gave us the right care, attention and treatment so I could continue as a wife and parent”.
“I was told ‘your job at the moment is to do the best for Áine and your husband’.
“LARCC have been invaluable to us. For everyone working there, it is a vocation. They are not all counsellors, but every one of them that works there is caring and understand what you are going through, she said.
“I am strong, but I couldn’t have done it without the help I got,” Marie said. “It meant I didn’t become a burden on the system, and it saved the government a lot of money.”
She pointed out that only 20% of the running costs of the centre are government funded, the rest has to come through fundraising.
“As I come out of my tough time, I know the value of what I got and I want to give back for the people coming behind me,” Marie stated.
Áine, now 10 years old, has written a book, ‘We All Have Feelings’, to raise funds for LARCC. The book costs €10 and already they have raised €9,300, just short of their €10,000 target, which could help provide an extra play therapist to help children like Áine.
During the Fleadh Cheoil in Mullingar they sold €5,000 worth of books, thanks to Bill, Teresa and Willie Collentine offering them a free spot on Dominick Street.
Áine plays camogie and football, she is in the Scouts and goes to speech and drama classes. Marie knew she would not get her husband Pat “in the door of LARCC”, so she encouraged him, a hurler, to get involved in training the Cullion underage camogie teams. “I needed him to be bedded in to the community and now he has a whole community to keep an eye on him,” she said.
“You never get over the anxiety of it coming back when you have Stage 4 cancer; every time you get a bit tired, you fear it’s back, but I am here,” Marie said.
She underwent a mastectomy and 35 sessions of chemotherapy, which ended last December. She is now on medication for five to 10 years. “The drugs keep the cancer at bay, so they are worth taking, they are a necessary evil,” she said. At the moment she is cancer-free and is reviewed every three months. “I am very lucky,” concluded this remarkable, strong, resilient and conscientious woman.
Leg it for LARCC
LARCC are holding their annual 5k walk/run, Leg it for LARCC, on Sunday next, September 10, at 12 noon to raise funds and Marie encourages as many as possible to get behind the incredible organisation.
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Áine's Hickey's Book for LARCC