{"id":40210,"date":"2025-09-24T07:11:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-24T07:11:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/40210\/"},"modified":"2025-09-24T07:11:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-24T07:11:09","slug":"terminally-ill-wicklow-woman-shares-cancer-story-in-a-bid-to-help-others-detect-warning-signs-early","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/40210\/","title":{"rendered":"Terminally ill Wicklow woman shares cancer story in a bid to help others detect warning signs early"},"content":{"rendered":"

Karen O\u2019Reilly and her family have been overwhelmed by the support they have received from the local community\n<\/p>\n

Originally from Coolgreany, Karen O\u2019Reilly (n\u00e9e Redmond) built a house and settled in Johnstown in 2010 with her husband, Robert, their two boys who have autism, John (15) and Joe (12), and their dog Spot.<\/p>\n

In September 2022, Karen was preparing for a holiday to Salou with her cousin Sandra. While simply brushing her hair in the mirror, she discovered something alarming. After a shower, when raising her arms, she noticed a crease or a slight indent at the bottom of her right breast.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom this point on, our family\u2019s life changed forever as we were plunged into the cruel reality of cancer,\u201d Karen said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was the impossible task of telling our boys, my siblings, parents and friends that I had this battle to fight, and that it was nobody\u2019s fault and there was no one to be angry with.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the space of a few short weeks, Karen had found the abnormality, got a triple assessment, was diagnosed with breast cancer, and started chemotherapy on November 21 \u2013 her birthday.<\/p>\n

\"Arklow<\/p>\n

Arklow woman Karen O’Reilly with her sons John and Joe. Photo: Brian O’Neill<\/p>\n

Today’s News in 90 Seconds – September 24th <\/p>\n

\u201cDuring this time, Karen had to prepare for the fight of her life in every aspect of her day-to-day activities,\u201d Robert said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis preparation involved emotionally supporting herself and her family, medical preparation, things like making sure your teeth are in good order, making sure your nails are healthy and all aspects of women\u2019s routine health, and getting eyebrow tattoos and hairpieces in place.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis proved to be vital in establishing a team of experts to help in the battle, as any issues can cause the treatment to be stopped, and teeth, nails and hair are the first casualties of the war.\u201d<\/p>\n

Karen\u2019s chemotherapy continued for five months until March 2023, and two months later, she had her right breast removed. In June, Karen started radium therapy, which lasted three weeks, and from there, the cancer was \u2018gone\u2019 and, with a chemo tablet, would hopefully stay away.<\/p>\n

\"Arklow<\/p>\n

Arklow woman Karen O’Reilly with her husband Robert and sons John and Joe. Photo: Brian O’Neill<\/p>\n

Karen continued to get on with life as a mammy in her usual positive manner. The cancer fight had been horrific, and she was left with many battle wounds, some being numb feet, neuropathy, breathing, gynaecological and weight problems and the emotional issues of being a woman with only one breast.<\/p>\n

\u201cThroughout the initial, sometimes hopeless battle with cancer, there were many positive bright lights shining to show support for me and my family,\u201d Karen said.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven when too sick to see them, they continued to keep shining and still do today.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo name just a few of the groups, both as groups and as the amazing individuals who make them magic, there\u2019s the Gorey Ukulele Group, Arklow Cancer Support, Our Lady\u2019s Hospice both Wicklow and Harold’s Cross, the boys schools, Glenart and Bearna Chl\u00e9, Dr Buggle and McCabe and all the staff in Sheltonville Surgery and Enable Ireland (CDNT).\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe most important group of all our friends and family, this group includes everyone, as it\u2019s widely accepted that Karen is everyone\u2019s friend and never just a client or patient,\u201d Robert added.<\/p>\n

\"Sandra<\/p>\n

Sandra Redmond (right) presents the proceeds from a benefit night to her best friend and cousin Karen O’Reilly.<\/p>\n

For the next two years, Karen returned to life as the best mother, teacher and friend anybody could ask for.<\/p>\n

She dedicated herself to teaching music to her group, the Gorey Ukes, which she set up seven years ago with her friend Susan and has grown to boast 50 members.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe would work tirelessly preparing music and loves her Wednesday classes where she would meet the wonderful people that seem to gather when music is involved,\u201d Robert said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Gorey Ukes group today is well known for their gigs and bringing happiness and fun to gatherings all year round. From the Christmas turning on of the lights to playing in the nursing home, they always show up and entertain. The group has raised a lot of money for local charities.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Arklow<\/p>\n

Arklow woman Karen O’Reilly with her sons John and Joe. Photo: Brian O’Neill<\/p>\n

From the turn of this year, Karen had been struggling with breathing and could no longer sing or walk long distances, as her energy levels were way down.<\/p>\n

After several hospital appointments and scans, a diagnosis of sleep apnoea and asthma was said to be at the root of the issues. Still not happy with things in July, Karen and Robert returned and had a PET\/CT scan done, and, while waiting on the results, Karen became very unwell and attended A&E on July 28.<\/p>\n

After 25 hours sat on a chair, Karen was informed that the breast cancer was metastatic and she was stage 4 with cancer in her lungs, liver, bones and lymph nodes.<\/p>\n

\"Martina<\/p>\n

Martina Costello, Stephanie Redmond, Noleen Hughes, Nathan (Redmond) Keogh, Sandra Redmond and Louise Byrne.<\/p>\n

This terminal diagnosis was a major bomb to be dropped on the family that holds Karen firmly at the top of the tree, the lady who is \u201cthe peacemaker and the voice of reason\u201d.<\/p>\n

Today, the family deals internally with the desperation and despair of dealing with the unthinkable: \u201cLife without mammy\u201d, \u201cLife without my friend\u201d, \u201cLife without my daughter\u201d, Life without my sister\u201d, generally \u201clife without\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll the people who were there for Karen for round 1 of the cancer battle have doubled up on their support for Karen,\u201d Robert said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI say doubled up, as they never went away and have been so kind to Karen and her family since the initial diagnosis in 2022. They have kept her singing, laughing and, lately, knitting; they have supported her and our family emotionally and physically as best they could.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel terrified, desperate, overwhelmed by the task of being mammy and daddy and very alone, but in our darkest times to come, I cannot ignore the support and kindness being shown by friends and family.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs I walk down a dark, desperate path, I must see the lines of people standing there with a torch of hope and support. Now it\u2019s too foggy, but I need to keep the boys looking for the light\u201d.<\/p>\n

Hundreds of people recently attended a fantastic night of music at The Gallery in Arklow to show their continued support for their treasured friend Karen, with numerous local musicians performing and over 70 businesses donating prizes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe GoFundMe and all the events happening are very overwhelming and embarrassing too, but they are just so comforting to make us believe the path is not dark and desperate, all our friends and family stand out there in the cold, miserable nights with a torch for us to find our way through,\u201d Robert said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe money raised will go towards a van to help Karen and the boys make some great memories together as we live in the now. As you know, Karen is tough, so let\u2019s hope for lots of time!<\/p>\n

\u201cThank you to everybody who helps every day. We fought for hope to beat cancer. Now we fight for Hope that it will go easy on us.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are no words to describe the support, just a question to ponder: Why do we wait for tragedy to show our kindness? We, the O\u2019Reilly\u2019s see it and very much feel it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Support the fundraiser for the O\u2019Reillys please click here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Karen O\u2019Reilly and her family have been overwhelmed by the support they have received from the local community…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":40211,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[5718,61,60,43],"class_list":["post-40210","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-eoin-mac-raghnaill","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40210","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40210"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40210\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40211"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}