The country music legend said that her youngest daughter got the all clear and she’s out the other side, but the news affected her a lot when she first found out
Philomena Begley has bravely opened up about her daughter Carol’s cancer diagnosis for the first time, saying the difficult news was a big shock and affected her a lot.
She went through chemotherapy and got a mastectomy after discovering she had breast cancer, but now she is back to work after her treatment worked.
The Co Tyrone country music legend opened up about her relationships with her three children and what they are up to – and she chatted about working and touring with Ray Lynam.
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Philomena told RSVP Country: “Carol had breast cancer and she went through chemotherapy and got a mastectomy. She got the all clear and she’s out the other side. She was very good and she didn’t make any fuss about it.
“She is back to work, so fingers crossed things stay good for her.”
The singer says she was very worried about her: “It was awful. She didn’t tell me anything about it and it came as a big shock to me. The news affected me a lot. But she handled everything so well, so I had to just do the same.”
Philomena and her husband Tom Quinn have three children together and they are all doing different things.
She said: “They’re all doing very well. Mary is my eldest girl and she lives in Knocknacloy with her husband John and their two boys, Liam and Seán.
“The boys love golf. My son Aidan is a chip off the old block, he works in entertainment as well. He started off when he was very young and he’s played in bands and recorded albums.
“He and his wife Donna have two kids, Joseph and Ellie Rose, and they live beside me. They’re mad into football and dancing. My baby is Carol and she has one wee boy, Thomas, in Donegal with her husband Brian.”
Aidan calls in all the time because he is so close. The country music legend joked: “He has my heart broken [jokes]. He calls in to see what I’m making today and to see if there’s any bacon.”
Where does she get your energy from? Philomena joked: “I don’t know!”
Philomena still works very closely with Ray Lynam when she’s on the road.
She said: “We’ve been working together since 1972. We’ve done tours together, we’ve recorded together and performed across England and Scotland.
“We played the Wembley Festival together and we always got a great reception. We played alongside the biggest names from America and I’ve no pictures to show for it.
“I played at a festival with Garth Brooks and I had no idea who he was. I was in Nashville and the girl looking after me went on to become his first manager. Garth went out on a promotional tour and she took me along with him.
“I don’t have one photograph of it. When he came to Ireland on his first tour I got tickets to the box and I was sitting alongside Albert Reynolds.”
Philomena was never starstruck during these big moments.
The Pomeroy native said: “The way I look at it was it was part of the job. I met Tammy Wynette at Wembley as well and I visited her when we were out in Nashville. Her house was beautiful, it was a lovely place.”
Her fans have been good to her over the years.
She said: “Everybody has been lovely down through the years. Before, it used to be people asking me for pictures for their mum or their granny, but now they want them for themselves. I think the younger generation is fantastic.”
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