IRISH ATHLETE CIARA Mageean has said it’s important to “celebrate the joys in life” following her diagnosis with stage four bowel cancer last year.
She has represented Ireland at two Olympic Games and had to pull out of the Paris Games due to injury.
Mageean was also the 2024 European Athletics Championships gold medallist in the 1,500 metres.
She is releasing a memoir, My Greatest Race, on 18 June.
Published by Gill Books, it will chart her decorated career as a middle-distance runner and her cancer diagnosis.
‘Celebrate the joys in life’
Speaking with Brendan O’Connor this morning on RTÉ Radio 1, Mageean said her lesson is to “enjoy the moment you’re in”.
She reflected on the latter years of her running career and remarked: “I was throwing up beforehand with the nerves, but there was a thing in my head saying, ‘you need to stop and smell the roses, because this doesn’t last forever’.”
She added: “Relish those moments – that might be in your garden with your kids and you just think, ‘there’s nowhere I’d rather be’.
“There’s so many people in the world that are going through absolute turmoil, and it breaks my heart to see things that are happening in South Sudan and Gaza, what people were putting people through in Belfast.
“We need to celebrate the joys in life, and we need to verbalise them a lot more.
“I think all of us need to take a moment and smell the roses and think, ‘okay, there’s good stuff to celebrate in life’.”
‘I’ll never forget that day’
When asked when she first realised something was wrong with her health, Mageean said she started to need to use the toilet more frequently.
“I would get up in the morning and need the toilet four times, and I’d say ‘that’s not normal’.”
She said she “kept finding logical reasons for it” but that the problem became worse during a training camp.
Her partner, Tommy, encouraged her to get this seen to and it was discovered that Mageean had cancer.
“I’ll never forget that day,” said Mageean, “going in to have what I thought would just be a routine little scope, but instead on that very day I found out that I had cancer.”
She said her immediate reaction was “Jesus, that’s not good”.
“I was so shocked that it was probably an unusual reaction.
“Most people would expect you to cry, but I was like, ‘gosh, right’.
“Because I’m so young and healthy, I thought I’ll be at an early stage.”
She went for further testing and it was discovered that Mageean had stage four bowel cancer and that it had spread to her liver and lungs.
“It wasn’t until then that it became the biggest blow to me, finding out it was stage four.
“I get emotional thinking about how upset I made everybody with this diagnosis.”
Mageean said she and her partner sat in their car in a “stunned silence” after this news and “just began to cry”.
“For the next few days it was rough, very emotional,” said Mageean.
“It was really unknown as to, will I die in the next few months, will I die in the next few years, do I have longer?”
She said she searched Google for the survival rate and that 10 to 15% of people who have stage four bowel cancer survive.
“I was like, ‘that’s not good odds’, but I did think, ‘why can’t I be in that 10 to 15%?’”
“I have no comorbidities, I can fight this, but it is a strange mix of determination to be ‘I’m not going to let this cancer win’, but just the sheer dread and feeling that the Grim Reaper is right behind me.
“And thinking, should me and Tommy get married really quickly, because am I going to get really sick.”
Shortly after, Mageean said she bought a wedding dress and is planning on getting married in September.
“I don’t know what the future holds for me,” said Mageean.
“While I’m feeling fit and healthy, I want to enjoy a celebration, and marry the man I love, and we will have a wonderful day.
“Having all of our loved ones around us and a bit of craic, a celebration of life is what I want, and I hope that’s also what comes through in my book, is that hope that we can all have, even in our darkest hour.”
‘Mourn the loss of things I never had’
Mageean has had 18 rounds of chemotherapy and said that it has impacted upon the sensation in her hands and toes.
“But I’m feeling fit and healthy and I’m hopeful that my prognosis can be good.”
Mageean added that last Christmas, she was informed that she might only have two to three years left to live.
“For any people who wondered, ‘how did she go and do Uncharted after 12 rounds of chemo?
“I walked out of that hospital appointment on 24 December, and I said, I’m going to Costa Rica, and I’m having fun because if I’m going to die I’m going to fit as much living into the years that I have left.”
Mageean meanwhile said she isn’t “scared” about what lies ahead but rather feels “complete sadness”.
“We were planning our lives ahead, we’ll start a family, and I’ll have kids, and then I’ll have grandkids, and I’ll get to be a granny, I’ll get to watch Tommy grow old, and I’ll have so many celebrations with my friends and families throughout the years.
“I get emotional thinking that I don’t really have the luxury of thinking that anymore, and it might be a reality if this treatment works, and I’m hopeful that I get to live into my old age, but the odds are stacked against me.
“I mourn the loss of things that I never had.
“I mourn the loss of being able to retire from my sport and having that farewell race. I mourn the loss of a family that I always really wanted.”
Mageean said she hopes people can “resonate with some of the things I went through, and some of the lessons that I learned”.
“I want to raise awareness to listen to your body, but also to show people there’s no guarantees in life, somebody can be perfectly healthy and go out tomorrow and a catastrophe could happen.
“So live every day for the joy that you have. We need to feel happy, because I feel like the hourglass is so much more obvious to me now.
Meanwhile, Mageean thanked the Irish public for their support.
“I am so grateful for the support of the Irish nation that’s been there for me throughout my entire career.
“Honestly, I feel so supported and loved throughout this journey, and I can’t thank everybody enough for all of that.”