“I learned to take each day at a time and not worry about the future. Life is for living.”
A woman from Co Derry has credited a charity with helping her get through the mental and physical challenges after she was diagnosed with cancer. Linda Wisener from Coleraine was diagnosed with breast cancer in August 2015 when she was 44.
Linda found a lump in her breast through routine self-examination and attended her GP, who referred her to the Breast Clinic for further investigation. After a series of assessments, she was told the devastating news she had a cancer in the left breast.
She was advised it was treatable and she would need surgery via a lumpectomy, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Linda would then have to have Herceptin injections and following this, go on to Tamoxifen.
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The now 54-year-old, who is a social worker in Adoption Services at the Northern Trust, is now ten years cancer-free. Looking back to when she was diagnosed, she said: “My breast cancer diagnosis came as a massive shock to me and my family. I had no family history of the disease. I had three teenagers at home doing exams, which was a very stressful time already; it was a lot to take in.”
“Thankfully, it was caught at an early and treatable stage. My husband, family and friends were an incredible support, helping me through my treatment. I’m now pleased to say that I am ten years cancer-free. Recently, Trevor and I celebrated this milestone with a trip to Lake Garda in Italy, somewhere we’ve always dreamed of going.”
Linda received support services through Action Cancer’s complementary therapy, which operated out of a community base in Portrush: “I was struggling to sleep with all the treatment and was really stressed. Reflexology helped to greatly minimise my anxiety and improve my sleep and overall wellbeing.”
She also attended counselling sessions through the charity and the Positive Living Programme which was a two-day course in the Portrush Ramada. Linda said the charity’s support helped her cope with the challenges of her diagnosis, including learning to set more time aside for “me time.”
Linda said: “As a Social Worker, my job was to help, advise and guide other people. I really struggled with the tables being turned and me being on the receiving end of the support. I found it hard to accept that my new identity was what seemed initially to be a less-able identity.
“Action Cancer helped me to refocus and see other opportunities. The charity helped me to develop other skills and take the opportunity to do things that I previously didn’t have time to do, to use my breast cancer diagnosis as an opportunity to take stock of my life.
“One outcome was to for me to decide to take a bit more me time. To get back into creative writing, something that I never seemed to have the time to prioritise.
“Work had always been very significant to me so I had to get my head around what would returning to work look like. I’m not the same person anymore, would I be able to do this?
“I decided that I needed to put some boundaries around work. I returned initially on a part-time basis but then stepped it up to full-time but with a refreshed attitude. I now have a better work life-balance.
“I was previously a bit of a perfectionist and burnt myself out because of it. I’ve learned to be less like this and to say yes, but only to the right opportunities.
“With a cancer diagnosis you have a lot of physical scars but it’s a massive challenge mentally. Action Cancer helped me navigate through my diagnosis and what lay ahead. With their help, I learned to take each day at a time and not worry about the future. Life is for living.”
Linda got involved with Action Cancer’s Breast Cancer Coffee Morning five years before her breast cancer diagnosis as the main organiser, Ann Brown, was a colleague of hers. She went along as a member of the public to show her support, and she now volunteers at the event.
She is encouraging members of the public to attend the Breast Cancer Coffee Morning on Saturday, October 18 in Portstewart at Agherton Parish Centre from 10.30am.
She said: “I love taking part in the annual coffee morning, it’s such a fantastic event bringing together the community for a great cause. I am a traybake queen – I do all the favourites!”
“Action Cancer was a wonderful support to me after I was diagnosed. Having a bigger involvement in the event was a way for me to give back to the charity as well as spreading the important breast cancer awareness message.”
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