Tipp mum conquering her way through terminal illness launches health and wellness website

Nenagh mum Alannah Sheehan has had a complicated few years. After purchasing her home in 2019, Alannah her husband and their three children were settling into their forever home. Then in 2020 their lives were turned upside down when Alannah was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer at just age 32.

As Alannah says on her website, “It felt like the dream had become a nightmare in the blink of an eye.”

Of course this was a difficult thing to come to terms with but Alannah, being an amazingly positive woman, decided that “death was not on the cards” for her.

Having previously been a chef and grown up in a family of food lovers, Alannah began to clean up her diet and use food as her weapon against illness. Alannah says “As a chef I had a deep love of working with food to satisfy peoples’ hunger. My hunger was for life.

“The mindset shift was initially sparked by food. It was freeing, and I wanted to work as hard on my mental health as I was on my dietary well being.

“Practicing gratitude daily lifted me. Focusing on what I have rather than what I don’t have had an instant positive effect on my life. Repeating daily affirmations soothed my soul. My brain believed everything I told it. I am happy, I am healthy, I am healing. My days started well and ended well.

“For me, food and mindset are mutually inclusive. Gathering around a table with the ones you love is something inherently enriching for both the stomach and the soul. We come together to eat, but we also come together to support each other.”

Now, after years of powering through her diagnosis and living life to the fullest with her family and friends, Alannah has launched her own website that lists some of her favourite recipes helping her to stay healthy and offers her very own range of ‘wellness cards’ - which look like they would be a great Christmas stocking filler!

Alannah says “With this range of affirmation cards, I want to impart some of the things that got me moving, helped me laugh, made me chase the negative thoughts from my mind on those difficult days, to any of you that are facing something you can’t comprehend or manage.”

You can find Alannah’s website online at alannahsheehan.com and follow her story on instagram at @worth_fighting4.