Just two days before Christmas last year I found a lump

THIS has been a challenging year for Karen O’Mahony and her family.

She is CEO and co-founder of the Rainbow Club, which provides skills and support, and acts as a community hub for children and young people living with autism - from pre-school age, right up to young adulthood.

This year, Karen, 51, a mum of four, two of whom are on the autistic spectrum, lost both her mum and her mother-in-law. Another blow struck when Karen was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer.

“We’re in the here and now and as happy as we can be,” says Karen, who is looking to the future with a new optimism knowing that the future of the Rainbow Club is alive and well. The club has received capital funding and their very own premises. It has been a long battle, one they have been fighting since the club opened back in 2015.

Karen said: “Over the last eight years, it has been really hard and emotionally physically exhausting.

It’s all been worth it to get here, where we’re ready to take the next big jump and leap forward.

Karen and Jon, together with their children, Troy, Molly, Sean and Stephen, have had a challenging year. The children lost both their grannies and their mum was diagnosed with breast cancer.

“Jon and I had the conversation with the kids before my surgery,” said Karen. “I wanted them to know.”

Karen, who supports 12,900 children and their families, wanted her children minded.

“I wanted them to be protected the whole time, for them to know what was going on. They have a great support network here. I needed them to be OK.”

Karen is doing well after a gruelling year dealing with illness and grief, all the while carrying out vital services for children and their families.

This year, Christmas will be different.

“It was Christmas week last year when I finished up work,” says Karen.

I had a shower, and I thought the area around the breast felt unusual. At that point, two days before Christmas, there were no doctor’s appointments available.

Was Karen worried?

“Yes, I was a bit worried, something was off, something was unusual. I kept checking myself over Christmas. I didn’t tell anyone.”

It was the first Christmas without her dad.

“We lost dad in May,” says Karen. “It was our first Christmas without him. Mum was here.”

After Christmas, Karen went to her GP who sent her to meet with a consultant in CUH.

“I had another two weeks to wait before it was decided what to do,” she recalled.

She confided in ‘her rock’.

“Jon is so supportive,” says Karen. “He is my rock. He is logical and he said we’d deal with it.”

Karen met with Dr Deirdre O’Hanlon minus ‘her rock’.

“There were still restrictions in place,” says Karen. “So Jon couldn’t come with me. Dr O Hanlon is a lovely lady, she sent me for a mammogram. I subsequently had a scan, an ultrasound, and three biopsies in the Orchid Centre.

“A clip was put in my breast and I had another two weeks to wait for further information. The ultrasound confirmed that there was something there, but nothing was confirmed until the results of the biopsies came back.”

Karen buried herself in her work and in the heart of her family.

“I was kept busy at work,” she says. “I got the boys back into school and settled. We all tried to support each other.”

She missed her dad, Paddy Dennehy.

“With dad gone, it was difficult,” says Karen. 

We built our house across the road from mum and dad. I was very close to both my parents.

Karen’s rock was with her when she met again with Dr O’Hanlon.

“Jon was with me when I was diagnosed with stage 3 cancer,” says Karen. “It was an awful shock.”

Jon wasn’t the only rock close by.

“There was a beautiful nurse, Martina, who stayed with us the whole time. She made us tea and answered all our questions. She reassured us about what was coming.”

What was coming?

“Surgery was on the cards,” says Karen. “After that a decision was to be made by the medical team regarding treatment, chemotherapy and radio therapy followed by hormone therapy. The medical teams work together, and the treatment plan is put in place in stages.”

Was all that hard to process?

“It was hard to process and be told at 51 that I had cancer,” admits Karen.

Her sister Martha went through her own cancer journey 14 years previously. Karen was her rock.

“When cancer comes to your own doorstep, it’s a different scenario,” says Karen. 

A lot of stuff enters your head.

" My cancer was oestrogen-driven so the chance of re-occurrence was higher than with other cancers.”

Karen got on with things. She had a lumpectomy and the removal of lymph nodes on March 23.

“The night before my surgery, Jon’s mother, Kathleen O’Mahony passed away, on the Sunday night. I was scheduled for surgery at 7am the next morning. It was hard dealing with arrangements and facing surgery.”

The surgery went well, until Karen was told the margins weren’t clear and she had to have more surgery.

“The procedure was deeper and wider. The surgeon was happy. She took away all the lymph nodes.”

How did Karen feel?

“When both surgeries were completed, I was relieved and I was optimistic,” she says. “I felt a sense of relief that the cancer was out of my body. They got it all. I thought, ‘I’m clean’.”

She was tired.

“I found the waiting for results and sporadic living day by day tiring,” says Karen. 

There are a lot of side-effects following treatment for cancer. I suffered nausea and tummy problems. My hair fell out.

She had a willing helper on board.

“My son shaved my head,” says Karen. “In a previous life I was a hairdresser, so I found losing my hair very hard.

“I felt vulnerable and exposed. It wasn’t me. I didn’t feel attractive. Being bald, I didn’t feel like a woman. How I look, especially being the face of the charity, is very important to me. I lacked confidence and I needed to replace my energy.”

She got a new look.

“Molly sent away for vintage hats. I wore those!”

Karen was always going to show up for work, endlessly promoting the Rainbow Club, securing its future.

“Cancer didn’t stop me continuing my work,” she says.

Intent on bouncing back, Karen suffered another setback when she had a reaction to Neulasta injections which are essential to re-build the white cells killed by chemotherapy.

“I was admitted to hospital in July,” says Karen. “I had finished chemotherapy treatment and was facing radiotherapy.”

She was called for radiotherapy in CUH the day after her mum was rushed to A&E.

“Mum passed away at 5am, I was due to go for radiotherapy at 9.30am. It was awful.”

Karen’s mum was beloved.

“Mum was a sweetheart, like dad,” says Karen. “She was very involved in community work and dad and herself took elderly people out on day trips.

“She was a people person and loved her bingo on Thursday nights. We had a great relationship, and she was very involved in my kids here. She came on holidays with us when the kids were small.”

She was part of the club.

“Mum volunteered in the café at the Rainbow Club. She brought her neighbours to the café every Christmas for breakfast. Mum loved the Rainbow Club.”

This Christmas, things will be different.

“There will be two empty seats at the dinner table this year,” says Karen.

The last year was hard.

“It was bizarre, and it was horrific,” says Karen. “Jon and I lost both our mums. The cancer journey we’ve been through hasn’t been easy. 

I was as honest as I could be. I hope my posts on social media helped others going through their individual cancer journeys. 

"I got lovely messages and was able to chat online which helped hugely.”

A year on from her shock diagnosis, Karen says: “Work is busy. There is hormone treatment to talk about. It’s all OK. I find it toughest going to hospitals still going through radium treatments. I live day by day.

“It has been a tough year for us. It’s all about living and taking the opportunities. I don’t look back; only forward. We are all healthy which is amazing. The boys are doing well. We are a very positive family.”

It is a happy home. And another new home is on the cards.

“The Rainbow Club will have a new home in 2024. For me, that is wonderful news.”

The club is based at Avenue De Rennes, Cork. T12 HP40 Phone: 086-1380468. See www.rainbowclub.ie