‘I need all the help I can get’ - cancer survivor

Cuan Cancer Support hosted an open day to raise awareness for those who need them.

A cancer survivor has spoken of the vital support he’s received from the CUAN centre in Cavan Town.

The CUAN group hosted an open day in their homely Tullymongan premises last Friday, October 21 to raise awareness of the services they provide. The group’s name stands for Cancer Understanding and Nurturing.

“We’re having an open day just to allow people to come into the centre just to have a look and learn about the services and see what goes on here in CUAN,” explained service coordinator, Maria Brady who welcomed the Celt to the centre.

“It was so much busier than I was expecting, with the weather as well I was afraid that we wouldn’t get anyone but it has been really busy.

“This year we worked really hard at trying to promote the service and I think it’s really paying off. People are finding out about us and learning about the service we provide.”

CUAN Cavan, provides a confidential support service that responds to the needs of those affected by cancer. Their supports include one-to-one counselling service, reiki, acupuncture, reflexology and much more.

“We look after nutrition as well because a lot of people have side effects after cancer treatments with regards to their nutrition digestive issues so we have a bio kinesiologist who can test for food intolerances and different material intolerances in the body. After that they can go to our nutritional therapist who can advise them on their diet.”

One of the many people who has been availing of CUAN’s services since June 2021 is Anthony Davey. He is currently fighting cancer himself.

“I got a brain tumour in March last year, had surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy and then we found out about CUAN.

“I need all the help I can get. We have a very stressful home life, we have two kids with special needs as well so that adds to a lot of the pressure, but coming down here is fantastic. We can just get away from it all and they have so many different therapies going on, it’s great.”

Anthony and his wife both receive support from CUAN, a service which the couple have found incredibly helpful over the past year.

“It’s great, it’s so nice to come in, speak to someone you haven’t met before. You can just sit down at the table, have a cup of coffee and start chatting away and you always have something in common.

“Even though there’s lots of different cancer types and levels, you’ll always find a common bond between those and you’ll always have something to chat about whether it’s what stage you’re at, or sometimes it’s about nothing to do with cancer, it’s just life in general.

“My wife comes for sessions. When Covid was on they were doing online sessions so she had a few online sessions with the counsellor and then she has come down and has had reiki, reflexology and acupuncture recently as well. Anything that gets you out of the house and gets you away from the stress is fantastic.”

Anthony encourages anyone who has been affected by cancer to avail of their services, especially males of which he believes the service is lacking.

“There’s absolutely no issue with coming,” he says, hoping to convince any men who are hesitant about attending to give it a go.

“Try some of the therapies, a lot of the therapies you may never have tried reiki or reflexology or any of these things. If you want to you can have a chat anonymously with the counsellor. A problem shared is a problem halved. It’s great just to sit down and get it out. It’s not going to be held against you, you’re talking to somebody who works in a confidential manner, it’s not going to go beyond the front door.”

The services in CUAN Cancer Support have recently been adapted to cater for children.

“We are going from four right up. So four is our youngest,” continued Maria.

“We have a lot of young families that have started using our service lately and their children are quite young. So we’ve people who have a parent that has gone through cancer, we also have some kids that are going through cancer themselves as well.

“I got some funding from the Toy Show appeal this year so I’m running a programme for children who have gone through trauma of a family member who has gone through cancer. So I’m running that once a month for a year. There’s going to be a lot of mindfulness, teaching them how to express their feelings, breathing techniques and a lot of fun activities so I’m trying to spoil them rotten with that one.”

CUAN Cancer Support was founded by Kerry Mullen when she was going through her own cancer journey. She desperately searched for any information on her diagnosis that she could find which proved to be a difficult task.

“I was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2002, at that stage I knew absolutely nothing about cancer. I was diagnosed on Christmas week and I thought I wasn’t going to be alive by New Year’s.”

After exhausting all avenues, she decided a cancer support centre was needed in Cavan. She was offered a room by Cootehill Credit Union where she hosted meetings, inviting anyone who was affected by the disease to attend.

Martina Lee Boyle was one of those who attended the Cootehill meetings. She was also diagnosed with breast cancer in 2011 and attended the support group with a friend soon after.

She met with the group “through thick and thin” for months before the group decided to move its location to Cavan to make it more easily accessible to more people. This was when the service really took off.

“It’s taken on a whole new life, there’s a buzz and we are so proud of it,” Martina concluded.

Anyone who wishes to avail of the service, or find out more information is advised to call the office at 086 455 6632, or drop in to their beautiful facility at Tullymongan Upper, Tullymongan, Co. Cavan.