In September 2023, 37 year old Intensive Care nurse, Eimear Watson from Enniskillen wasn’t concerned when she felt some unusual tissue in her breast. A previous checkup at the breast clinic years before had been all clear.
Just weeks later, realising she was the only woman left in the waiting room after a mammogram and a series of rapid tests, the news of her breast cancer came as a massive shock.
“It was a blur of appointments and waiting. And I hated the waiting. I’m not a patient person by nature, and all I wanted was to get on with treatment.
My surgery was scheduled for 3rd October to remove the lump, and I was told I’d get results ten days later. I counted every single day. Then, the night before I was due to hear back, I got a call to say there was a delay.
It would be another week. That was my lowest moment. I stayed in my pyjamas all day and cried.
But the next morning, I got up and told myself to keep going.
Finally, at the end of October, the results came in: the tumour has been completely removed and the surrounding tissue was clear. I was ecstatic.
But I also learned the cancer was more aggressive than they had expected.”
Oddly, that made things clearer for me. I’m very practical, and I knew I wanted to do everything possible to stop it coming back. So I started four rounds of chemotherapy, followed by two weeks of radiotherapy.
I stayed at work right up until surgery and couldn’t wait to return after. Work was my distraction – it kept me from thinking about what I was really afraid of. The hardest part wasn’t the treatment. It was the thoughts about my family that haunted me.
I’d look at my children, Ollie (6) and Chloe (3), and wonder how their lives would be without me. I worried about Paul raising them on his own. I thought of every milestone I might miss: birthdays, Christmases, holidays, exams, weddings. Even now, I can’t think about my children and cancer in the same sentence without getting emotional.
Radiotherapy finished on 28 February. I had lost my hair, spent countless hours and miles on the road between Enniskillen and Altnagelvin, and faced years of hormone therapy with Tamoxifen and Zoladex. But I felt like I was finally through the worst.
On 15 April 2024, I went back to work. I dived back into the chaos of everyday life – being a nurse, a mum, a wife, and even riding my horse again. But deep down, something didn’t feel right.
By July, I looked fine to everyone else. My hair was growing back, and I had my routine again. But I was consumed with a new fear: what if the cancer came back? The anxiety was relentless and brought me to a standstill.
“Thankfully, my Breast Nurse Specialist referred me to Cancer Focus NI’s counselling service.”
That’s when I met Helen, my counsellor based in Enniskillen. She helped me see the positives again and shift my thinking. She even encouraged me to go on a Cancer Focus NI retreat in Donegal.
That retreat changed everything. It was a weekend with other women who had been through breast cancer – just like me. We shared stories, tears, laughter. For the first time, I could talk openly without worrying I was putting a burden on my friends or family. We created a bond that’s still going strong today. We even have a WhatsApp group and a reunion planned.
Between the counselling and the retreat, I finally began to feel like myself again.
That’s why I’m so passionate about the new Cancer Focus NI Therapeutic Cancer Support Centre in Enniskillen. It’s a service I wish I’d had when I was going through treatment.
Nobody told me that the hardest part might come after the treatment ends, or how difficult it would be to ask for help. Travelling to hospitals for appointments is exhausting – mentally and physically. But this new centre, right in the heart of our community, isn’t a hospital. It’s warm, welcoming, and non-clinical. That makes all the difference.
I’m in a good place now. I’m making plans for the future again with Paul, Ollie, and Chloe. I’m incredibly grateful to the medical teams who cared for me and to the people who support Cancer Focus NI.
