💾 Archived View for eir.mooo.com › nuacht › lui17110332215.gmi captured on 2024-03-21 at 15:23:18. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content
-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Manon Gilbart, 21 Mar
OVER two years ago, Courtney Smith’s world was turned upside down after
she was diagnosed with cancer. Every time she came back from
chemotherapy, her dog, Stitch, was always there to welcome her. Ahead
of Daffodil Day, we caught up with Courtney and her furry best friend —
in a bid to raise awareness.
Strolling through People’s Park in the city, the Rhebogue native
recalls how it all started.
“I fainted and I had a concussion, so I went to the hospital and they
found an infection but they didn't know what it was. After that, I had
a viral infection from February 2022 onwards.
"I was sick every day for months. We thought it was Covid, but all my
tests were negative. I had a cough that wouldn't go away, night sweats,
I was losing weight, the whole lot, but I thought nothing of it. We
found out there was an infection in my blood, but we didn’t know
anything about that,” Courtney explains.
One day, the 23-year-old walked into Laya Health and Wellbeing Clinic
on Ennis Road.
Five days later, she was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma - a cancer
of the lymphatic system.
“They did tests on me and diagnosed Hodgkin's. I went to UHL then for
oncology and I had a biopsy and that said I had stage three Hodgkin's
Lymphoma,” she recalls.
“I had to do egg retrieval, go up and down to Dublin and Cork to do
IVF, I had to inject myself then with hormones just to get my eggs, if
I wanted to do fertility in the future.”
After all that, Courtney started chemotherapy, which she finished in
December 2022. She recently celebrated being “nine months cancer free.”
But because of the chemotherapy, her bones are now brittle.
“The only thing though is I now have osteoporosis. It's like my bones
are brittle and I had a fracture in my back.
“So now I have to inject myself every day to help build up my bones
again basically.
“ I got that from the chemo. It's been tough going,” she says with a
slight smile.
When she was diagnosed, Courtney was in her last year of college.
But despite her sickness, she still graduated in digital marketing from
LIT.
“It was so scary because I didn't know what was wrong with me. I was
sick every day but I still went into college, got my degree. But we
just didn't know what was wrong with me and then just to find out I had
cancer was just crazy,” Courtney says.
As we make our way through the park, her maltichon, who was crowned
Nose of Tralee 2023, happily leads the way.
Throughout chemotherapy, Stitch kept Courtney company.
“He came into my life, I think, when I was one month into chemo. I
wasn't doing well because my hair was coming out, and I just didn't
feel great in myself at all. But he made the experience so much better.
I felt like I didn't even have cancer with him around,” she smiles.
“When I came home from chemo, he was just there to greet me. He knew I
was sad and he'd make me feel better.
“I had to shave my head because it was coming out, and Stitch was
eating it all. So I just said, ‘I have to shave, I'm going to do that
for him’”, she laughs.
READ MORE: PICTURES: Castleconnell locals treated to a St Patrick's Day
parade full of colour and surprises
Even though she is cancer free, Courtney still suffers from a lot of
anxiety - and is afraid cancer could come back. “You dread it coming
back. I go back every three months for tests, you dread those every
three months going back if something was to show up.
"I'm safe at the moment, but I just feel very paranoid as well. I’m
afraid of it coming back. You’d be afraid of getting a cold, thinking
it's back,” she says.
“I still get on with my life though, I don’t let it take over.”
As Daffodil Day is this Friday, March 22, Courtney has one message for
others, who might be struggling with an undiagnosed illness or a
diagnosis of Hodgkin's lymphoma.
“I never heard of it before. When I was told I had it, I had to look it
up straight away. No one copped it, it was very scary. A lot of young
people are getting it too, so, considering that I was 21 at that time,
and there's younger people getting it, and they don't know they have it
until they actually get something sourced.
“If I didn't walk into the Laya Clinic that day, I don't know where I'd
be. I wasn't being listened to outside of there by other professionals.
If you don't feel right in your body, or if you don't feel well, just
advocate for yourself. You’re the one that knows your body more than
anyone else.”