![\"Trish](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/5155265_3_articleinlinemobile_10072026_Trish_Blake_Ennis_CoClare_0021.jpg\" "\\"Trish")
Trish Blake at Spanish Point, Co Clare this week. Picture: Eamon Ward<\/p>\nA woman living with rare brain cancer marks three years this week since hearing she had 15 to 18 months to live, as she urged other patients to keep moving through life.<\/p>\n
Trish Blake knew nothing about brain cancer when she first heard those words.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had nobody to compare myself with, so I saw 15 to 18 months, then death. I didn\u2019t see beyond 18 months,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Now, instead of a fantastical bucket list, she feels lucky to mark ordinary moments.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve had three family weddings since my diagnosis. There are four new babies into our family, and every time something like that happens I think, \u2018I\u2019m so grateful\u2019,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think \u2018it could have been your husband and your kids at this [wedding] on their own’.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
She is acutely aware some patients do not get this time, but urged: \u201cIf you can get up, you can move, you can move through life.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou need to dig deep, and you need to say \u2018that\u2019s what I\u2019m going to do\u2019.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Back in July 2023, she said: \u201cIt all happened extremely quickly.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was in work on Monday, and I was in A&E Monday evening in Limerick, the regional hospital. And then the following day I was ambulanced down to Cork to the neurological team.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
She described how her husband Gear\u00f3id and children, then aged 14 and 16, drove behind her ambulance.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything was such a shock. Such a shock,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
“I had headaches off and on for maybe about six months. I was 49 so menopause was kicking in and [doctors] were putting it down to that.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
More scans were followed by her first brain surgery on July 14 at Cork University Hospital.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey said then this is cancerous and it\u2019s high-grade,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Glioblastoma is a rare and very aggressive cancer. A second surgery followed within days.<\/p>\n
The operations were lifesaving, but she said: \u201cWe were very much aware you could have a stroke on the table.”<\/p>\n
Trish Blake at Spanish Point, Co Clare this week. Picture: Eamon Ward<\/p>\n
On returning home to Ennis, \u201cthe whole roller-coaster\u201d started. She was coming to terms with changes such as to her eyesight and anxiety around ongoing care.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have to go for three-monthly brain MRIs in Limerick. And I could be waiting two to three weeks for the results of that,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
She describes removing jewellery or under-wired bras before each scan, saying: \u201cIt\u2019s like you\u2019re baring your soul at the door.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou shed a layer every time going in. And every time it\u2019s a little bit harder because you\u2019re getting this far ahead and you feel \u2018how much longer ahead can I look\u2019.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Passing the 18-month mark was \u201ca little bit of anti-climax\u201d despite also turning 50 around then, she recalled.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember thinking \u2018I don\u2019t want to do anything\u2019. It was a feeling of gratitude but also of sadness for me, for what happened to me.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Now she wants to offer a different visual of life with cancer.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wasn\u2019t pointed in the direction [of help], I didn\u2019t know where to find the supports,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll I was told was \u2018you\u2019re terminally ill, sort out your affairs.\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
One turning point was finding the Sl\u00e1inte an Chl\u00e1ir cancer centre in Kilnamona.<\/p>\n
Now she never turns down a coffee invite or a visit to her beloved Spanish Point, and shares her pride in her children as they pass milestones. She recently returned to work part-time.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe numbers are statistics, but there are still people surviving longer than that,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Ms Blake wants to thank her \u201camazing\u201d medical teams, mentioning CUH neurological surgeon Mazhar Iqbal as well as oncologist Roshni Kalachand and radiotherapy consultant Mazen El Bassiouni at the Mater Private\/Mid Western Radiation Oncology Centre Limerick.<\/p>\n
About 400 people are diagnosed with a primary brain tumour annually in Ireland, according to Sin\u00e9ad Power, a cancer nurse with the Irish Cancer Society Daffodil Centre in CUH.<\/p>\n
Symptoms of a primary brain tumour can include seizures or blackouts, personality changes and uncoordinated movements.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese symptoms can be caused by conditions other than brain tumours, but it\u2019s important to go to your GP and get any unusual changes checked,\u201d she advised.<\/p>\n