A young mum-of-two who is battling stage 4 breast cancer has focused all her efforts on a special fundraiser to recognise the “indescribable” services of Evora Hospice.
Thirty-eight year old Gabrielle McTaggart, from Camlough, was diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer back in 2022.
Her story is humbling, inspiring and heart-breaking but, most importantly, it’s powerful.
At the time of her diagnosis she was in the latter stages of pregnancy with her second son. What should have been a time of unbridled excitement and joy, with the view of a peaceful home-birth, was monumentally derailed upon diagnosis and she was sent to be immediately induced as a result.
The months that followed were emotionally charged. When her son, Odin was born he wouldn’t feed. Gabrielle spent two weeks in hospital with him, attending the interspersed chemotherapy appointments only to return to hospital to be by his side.
Donor milk “kept him alive” while Gabrielle’s treatment meant he was unable to feed from her.
Speaking to Armagh I of the lead up to the discovery of her cancer, Gabrielle said: “I found a lump. It was around the size of a Malteser but it grew to the size of a golf ball.
“I was going for a lot of scans while I was pregnant and I was still breast feeding my other child. I thought it was a blocked duct and I was pumping and trying everything… they just thought I had too much milk.
“I am a very healthy, holistic sort of person, on no medications. My midwife came to me when I was 37 weeks to deliver my birthing pool and I said, ‘Listen, this lump is still here’, and she took me by the hand and said, ‘We are going to your GP now and we aren’t going to leave until we get seen’. She probably saved my life.”
After all tests were completed, Gabrielle was informed she was a carrier of the BRCA 1 + gene, a gene that was also carried by her aunt, who sadly passed away in Hospice with breast cancer in her 30s. The care they provided her was “indescribable”.
Gabrielle has also benefitted hugely from the support of Evora Hospice while undergoing her own treatment.
Explaining the process, she said: “When I was in the thick of it with chemo I would have district nurses out to do my syringe driver and clean the picc line. It was a very low day and they said, ‘Why don’t we get you referred to the Hospice?’ They have counsellors, reflexology and an outpatient nurse who can work with the anti-sickness. They worked with me a wee bit with counselling and I got a lot out of the reflexology. I cried the whole way through it, but it was good tears.”
The building the Hospice occupies also bears huge significance for the young mum, who explains: “I was born in St John of Gods and I feel I would be honoured to go in Evora Hospice. I don’t fear death, but I’m petrified of not living.
“It was such a beautiful place, it’s not a place I was afraid in. I would die in peace there. The staff are unbelievable, as soon as you walk in.”
Through it all, Gabrielle has been carried through the ups and downs by the “love” of those around her, with particular mention to the community of Shane O’Neill’s GFC, who she regards as being her “saving grace”.
Said Gabrielle of the club: “I volunteer there and I’m on the committee and the support after I had a surgery in July was amazing. People were just constantly bringing food and checking in on my boys. They have helped me get out of my own head and given me a channel to help others.”
Her father, Gabriel – whom she is named after – has also been a rock through the last three-and-a-half years of treatment.
She added: “My dad is just such a good support for me. He’s my biggest fan! He’s at every appointment and sometimes I could string him up… he never stops but I’m so thankful for him.”
And now, while planning a special coffee morning for Evora Hospice, she says the community have once again blown her away with support.
While making her preparations for the fundraiser over the last two weeks, the community rallied to help put together a raffle to bring in extra funds. Gabrielle says the list is “growing by the day”, and people have even offered to provide a little something extra for her alone to enjoy in addition to the donations of prizes… a kindness she never expected and for which she is eternally grateful.
The raffle now boasts a £100 Lakeview Aesthetics, a ‘Letters to Santa’ Xmas studio voucher with Karen Mooney Photography, session vouchers for The Power House Physio & Pilates Studio, a massage voucher for JKB Sports Therapy and two £50 vouchers for Infinity Swimming… and much, much more.
The coffee morning will take place on Saturday, October 18 at Shane O’Neill’s GFC – who have graciously provided the space to their valued member – from 2pm. There will be coffee and light refreshments, all in aid of Evora Hospice.
Everyone who makes a donation will automatically receive a ticket for the raffle and additional donations – if desired – will be gratefully received.
Gabrielle is also taking the opportunity – and agreeing to share her story – to help raise awareness for the condition, especially given that October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
She notes: “This is three-and-a-half years, nearly four, and I’m only kind of realising what I’m going through now. I don’t wake up as a cancer patient, I wake up as a mum.
“The only thing getting me through is my love for my kids. Things could change at any minute, I just have to be as positive as possible.
“If you’re a mum, the days are long but they can be taken away from us all. We all think how will I get through another day with these kids and this washing and that’s also my reality from day-to-day… but thank God we get to say that.”
She stresses that there is a need for improvement within the health sector, including a need for more comprehensive screening, a more open listening to patients’ concerns – no matter their age – and reducing waiting times for elective mastectomies.
Said Gabrielle: “Consistent checking is needed, whether you are BRCA positive or not. I have a relative who has been waiting to have her breasts removed for seven years, but she’s also BRCA positive.”
In regards to awareness, she adds: “People think as well that if you are metastatic and you ring the bell that your treatment is over. So many people rang me and texted me when I rang the chemo bell to say ‘You did it, well done, your treatment is over’. But it doesn’t stop. When you’re metastatic or chronic treatment never ends and that’s something to be really mindful of.
“Primary breast cancer is horrendous and I’m not taking away from that but this, metastatic cancer treatment, doesn’t stop. People ask me, ‘When does your treatment end?’ The answer is never. It just doesn’t end. Even when your hair stops falling out or grows back, that doesn’t mean treatment has stopped.”
You can make a donation towards Gabrielle’s fundraiser via JustGiving here.
