Laois mother with incurable cancer training for Very Pink Run
A Laois woman who is living with incurable cancer is fundraising to take part in a national run.
Avril Tierney is a Dublin native who lives in Portarlington with her husband Alan and young daughters Tamsin and Tess.
Since her breast cancer diagnosis in 2019, she is constantly undergoing treatment, but is determined not to let her diagnosis dominate her life.
Avril works two jobs, one as a resilience coach and counsellor where she gives talks in schools, and secondly as an administrator for a charity called Extern in Portlaoise Family Resource Centre.
She told the Leinster Express how she keeps going.
"For me in my headspace, it's a chronic illness I have to manage. I try to focus on today and not think too far ahead, but to stay present. I make goals and manage my goals, and obviously my family, I keep going for them.
"There's stuff I want to do. I very much live my life. What the diagnosis does, is you let go of all the crap in life you don't need, worrying over silly things," she said.
Avril also recently became an Ambassador for Breast Cancer Ireland's #Metastatic Matters campaign and is hoping to raise lots of money for cancer research by doing their annual Very Pink Run.
A video she made for them sums up her positive and inspiring attitude. See video link below story.
"I'm living proof, research matters. My drug didn't exist six months before I started it. And now my tumours have halved and have remained stable. A metastatic diagnosis doesn't mean life stops. Yes, it's devastating at first but you can live a fulfilled life, especially with so many treatments available now. Making it a treatable illness for future generations of women," she says in the video.
"It's been brilliant working with Breast Cancer Ireland. It got me out of my comfort zone. I did a radio ad, they are lovely to deal with," she said.
The Portarlington community are also supportive.
Avril with her husband Alan and children Tamsin and Tess.
Avril first found a lump in her breast back in 2019 and went to her local GP in Portarlington.
"I was referred for a triple assessment in St Vincent’s hospital in Dublin as an urgent referral due to the size of the lump. Within weeks I was told the horrendous news that I had Triple Negative Breast Cancer and would need to start treatment as soon as possible; chemo, lumpectomy and then radiation.
"Those first few weeks I felt like my world had been upended. I had panic attacks for the first time in my life and felt utterly out of control. It took some time to gather myself but I woke one morning to a realization that the one thing I could control was how I was in this situation. I could continue to panic or I could refocus, stay present and just get on with whatever came my way.
"After primary treatment I did oral chemo to ensure that all cancer cells were captured. The hope being that that would be it however that wasn’t to be. After oral chemo had finished I had a CT scan which showed two cancerous nodules on my upper right lung. I was informed that these were removable and treatable. So I was on the treatment train again and it moved fast.
"In August 2020 I had the upper right lobe removed from my lung and after recovering from that I began IV chemo once again. When this was complete I then had another CT scan which showed further spread in the same lung. Unfortunately this time it was treatable but not curable so I now moved into a stage 4 diagnoses. It was the worst news. I was exhausted and completely devastated. It took some time to gather myself.
"I’ve always been surrounded by my wonderful family and friends and this really carried me through this time.
So treatment began again. This came in the form of a combination of immunotherapy and chemotherapy. I also decided to cold cap so I wouldn’t lose my hair again.
"Thankfully I have responded well to this and have seen the tumours half in size after three months and they have continued to stay stable since," Avril said.
She said that being bald from the treatment had brought out kindness in people but she was treated differently, like a "patient".
Growing her hair again has helped her regain "a sense of normality for the first time in a long time".
"People who look at me won't necessarily know I have cancer. I have made a conscious decision to live my life as normally as possible. Throughout I have tried to be a present Mam to my children and an active participant in the rest of life.
"I went back to work last year and this has been an amazing move forward for me. I try to take each day as it comes.
"This is not always easy and has taken a lot of time and effort to get to the point of being able to do it but it is possible. For me I see the worry as a waste of time and certainly doesn’t change the outcome but it makes a hugely positive difference to me and those around me. However, staying present also means accepting the bad days when they come too and they do come. There is a lot involved when living with cancer but the keyword for me is 'living'," she explains.
Avril decided to take part in the 2023 Very Pink Run and is training up in the town and on her treadmill at home.
"People can't miss me, I walk my two lurchers Bella and Daisy every night, dragged by them," she joked.
The run for Breast Cancer Ireland takes place in Dublin, Kilkenny and Cork. Each offers a fun, family, festival style day out, with music, games, and children’s entertainment, along with festival style food trucks.
Avril is choosing to do the event at Leopardstown Race Course on Saturday, September 30.
The other events are in Kilkenny Castle Park on Sunday, October 1 and on Sunday October 8 at MTU Cork. People can also take part virtually, in their local community any time between September 30 and October 8.
Follow her story via her Instagram page called so_this_is_stage4