The Answers for Cancers

Dr Emily Harold returns for part two in which we discuss Bladder Cancer

Part one of our chat with Emily Harold focusing on renal cell carcinoma

This week on the podcast we chat with Holly Jane Woods about her experience of being diagnosed with stage 4 oesophageal cancer at the age of 25. We first became aware of Holly's story when we saw her on irelandam. Firstly for anybody not following Holly on Instagram you need too! She is absolutely hilarious and honest, you are guaranteed to come away from her page feeling better. Holly is extremely honest with us about her cancer experience so far and she talks very openly about her treatment so far along with the highs and lows that she has faced as a result. We are truly grateful to Holly for speaking with us and we can't wait to follow her as tackles life in New York. Holly and her dad have raised alot of money for the oesophageal cancer fund who continue to raise awareness and support those affected by this disease.

Dr Adrian Murphy

We discuss what to expect when attending and recovering from surgery with Gynaecology Oncology CNS Louise Comerford

Dr. Karen Cadoo is a consultant Cancer Geneticist and Medical Oncologist at St. James's Hospital, Dublin

Director of psychology and support services at Cancer Care West and National Clinical Lead in Psycho-Oncology Ireland

We are very excited to announce starting today the 20th of September we will be releasing and episode a week for 4 weeks to answer all of your questions for world gynaecology oncology day. The theme for this year is 'dare to ask' so we will be asking all of the questions sent in by you to 4 specialists. We will speak with Prof Donal Brennan, Dr Karen Cadoo, Helen Greally, and Louise Comerford. We hope you enjoy. Special thanks to careplus pharmacy who are sponsoring this mini series with all proceeds going to the Emer Casey foundation. We feel very privileged to be asked to take part in raising much needed awareness and getting you the answers you need.

Today we are joined by Leanne

This week we are joined by Dr Jarushka Naidoo, Consultant Medical Oncologist at Beaumont Hospital and Chair of the Lung Cancer Group at Cancer Trials Ireland to discuss Lung Cancer. 

This week we talk with support group facilitator Pat Halley. Pat speaks openly about his experience of living with cancer. We have an honest conversation about the first time he reached out for support and journey it has taken him on since. Thank you Pat for helping raise awareness about the importance of seaking support if you feel you need it.

Professor Nicola Ralph is a Consultant Dermatologist on the Specialist Register for Dermatology in Ireland. She is an honours graduate of the Royal College of Surgeons, Ireland. She commenced her training in Dermatology in the Mater Misericordaie University hospital where she developed a special interest in photodermatology. This led to her current undertaking of an MD, as principal investigator of a large European Multicentre study on photopatch testing (2015 to date). She was appointed as a Consultant Dermatologist at the Mater Misericordiae University hospital in 2014 and works as a Consultant Dermatologist at the Mater Private hospital and Blackrock Private Clinic. She is a Clinical Assistant Professor at University College Dublin.

This week we discuss stress and it's impacts with Mary Scarf from ARC

Naomi Algeo an Occupational Therapist by background, and Irish Research Council Scholar (2018-21) currently completing my doctoral studies in cancer and employment in Ireland, under the School of Medicine at Trinity College Dublin

Consultant Psychotherapist Carmel O'Hara joins us this week to talk about mindfulness in relation to diagnosis and also the benefits of mindfulness in general. Carmel also leads a drop-in mindfulness session at the end of the podcast (33:16) we learned so much in both the recording of this podcast and by dropping in on one of Carmel's mindfulness sessions in ARC, we hope you enjoy this podcast and share it with anyone you may feel it could help. IG: @theanswersforcancerspodcast E: theanswersforcancerspodcast@gmail.com

Niamh facilitates people moving from where they are now to where they want to be and she has successfully worked with hundreds of people from the worlds of sport, business and general life in this regard. Niamh brings insight, clarity and perspective to her sessions, along with great reserves of enthusiasm and humour, so working with her is not only educational and effective, but also enjoyable.

Helen worked for 22 years in London focussing on the area of urology. She joined the Macmillan Cancer Support team, after seeing the need for a more holistic approach to the care of cancer patients. Helen set up two support groups for men with prostate cancer and their families, called Prospect and PHASE. Before returning to Ireland Helen ended her time at Macmillan as Cancer Nurse Director, a post which involved leadership and accountability at a strategic level.

This week we discuss breast Cancer with Prof. Desmond Carney

Today we are delighted to be joined by Breast Care Clinical Nurse Specialist Sinead Murtagh. We are lucky to have Sinead as a colleague and are grateful for all the information provided in this episode. She explains how to check our breasts, signs and symptoms of Breast cancer, what to do if you notice something abnormal and surgical options available for patients. We hope you enjoy today's episode. Please like and subscribe it let's people know that we are here and please dm us on Instagram if you have any questions @theanswersforcancers_podcast or email us on Theanswersforcancerspodcast@gmail.com

Yvonne Lucas is Services Manager at ARC cancer support. ARC Cancer Support Centre is a registered voluntary organisation providing a drop-in service and professional support to people affected by cancer and to their families, friends, and carers. All our services are provided free of charge. Whether you have recently been diagnosed with cancer, are in recovery, are the parent of a child with cancer, or a family member or friend of someone with cancer, ARC welcomes you with open arms and will care for you during these difficult times.

Sam is the founder of Growing Families, previously known as Families Through Surrogacy . He and his partner have two girls born via international surrogacy in 2011. Sam has been involved in family formation journeys for over eight years. He established the not-for-profit organisation Surrogacy Australia in 2010, which quickly became Australia's go-to resource for media, government and intended parents. He is also an Executive Officer at Surrogacy Australia. Sam maintains diverse global networks with surrogacy researchers, families, agencies, donor banks and reproductive specialists. He is a regular media commentator and has c0-authored a number of articles on surrogacy utilisation and attitudes in the Medical Journal of Australia, Australian Institute of Family Studies, Bionews and the Australian & New Zealand Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology.

This week's episode is the first of our patient story series, talking with patients sharing their personal stories. Lean was kind enough to share her surrogacy journey with us and we are very proud to be able to share such an informative and inspiring story. IG: @theanswersforcancerspodcast

Mandy joined the Rotunda IVF/Sims IVF Swords team in 2016 as the oncology cryopreservation programme manager and senior embryologist and has been an integral member of the team ever since. Her experience has been invaluable in training new staff and sharing the Rotunda IVF oncology cryopreservation programme with the wider medical community including presentations at conferences and lectures to oncologists, nurses, medical students and hospital staff. She loves speaking with patients, hearing their success stories and is passionate about beautiful embryos and getting the best possible results for her patients

This week we're joined by a colleague and friend Sarah Robinson

Dr Mary Rogan is a retired GP, Psychosexual Therapist & author of Sex for simple Humans.  Mary's book https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sex-Simple-Humans-Throughout-Your-ebook/dp/B077YLB44P/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&qid=1615852529&refinements=p_27%3ADr+Mary+Frances+Rogan&s=books&sr=1-1&text=Dr+Mary+Frances+Rogan

This week we discuss Radiotherapy with Dr. Michael Maher, Dr. Maher qualified from the Royal College of Surgeons and completed his radiation oncology training in St Lukes Hospital Dublin, the Institut de Cancérologie Gustave-Roussy, and Institut Curie. He established the first private radiotherapy centre in Ireland in 1995 when he joined the Mater Private Hospital. Dr Maher is a leader in the field of prostate seed implantation and established the first programme of its kind in Ireland. In 2010 Dr Maher was appointed as the Chairman of the Cancer Centre at the Mater Private and has oversight for the provision of cancer care throughout the hospital. Dr Maher's vision for the cancer centre is to provide personalised care to patients living with a cancer diagnosis whilst offering the most recent treatments and technology to ensure the best possible outcome.

Prof. John McCaffery joins us today to speak about the most frequently asked questions Men may have when Diagnosed with prostate cancer

This week with talk about fatigue with Occupational Therapist Deirdre Connolly

Doctor Duffy is a medical oncologist, researcher and author of ‘This Living and Immortal thing ‘ he completed his undergraduate medicine training in Trinity college in Dublin and has taken the medical field by storm ever since. Cancer is something he is very familiar with , he moved to New York after completing his oncology training in Ireland . He had won a scholarship curtesy of a 200,000 scholarship programme to take up residency at one of the worlds oldest and most renowned cancer centres, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre, where he was undertaking research surrounding gastrointestinal cancers. Most recently he is a professor in translational oncology in UCD and has shifted his focus and taken a keen interest in immune based approaches to cancer. And is one of Ireland's leading experts and researchers in immunotherapy. Today he joins us to explain what immunotherapy is, how it works and how it differs from chemotherapy . We really enjoyed this conversation and we can't wait to see what the future has in store for treating cancer with immunotherapy.

For over 60 years the Roach family have been involved in hair and beauty industry, with a specialisation in wigs and hair pieces. Fergus and Maura Roach recognising the lack of services for people concerned with hair loss , opened their dedicated wig centre in 1986. Their passion for the business was passed down to their daughter Anne Roche. Anne along with her team of expert wig and hair replacement specialists took over in 2006. Since then Roches have helped thousands of women and men experiencing hair loss through cancer feel that little bit more like their normal selves. She speaks to us today about everything from when is the best time in your treatment journey to start thinking about getting a wig and who to bring with you to your first appointment . To shave or not to Shave? and the emotional side of losing your hair . This is a really helpful conversation which we got so many great tips from to share to our patients . We hope you do too .

Doctor Megan Greally is a Consultant Medical Oncologist at the Mater Private Hospital, Dublin. Dr. Megan Greally graduated, MB BCh BAO, from the National University of Ireland, Galway in 2008. She obtained membership of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland (MRCPI) in 2011 and completed Higher Specialist Training in Medical Oncology in 2017. During her training she obtained a diploma in Clinical Education at the National University of Ireland, Galway. In 2016 she was the recipient of an ISMO visiting scholar fellowship at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre.

We chat with Yvonne O'Meara, Systemic Psychotherapist & Psycho-Social Oncologist. Yvonne has worked in the area of psycho social oncology and palliative care since 2004 in teaching hospitals in Ireland and in North America. She has recently taken up a post at the University College Dublin school of medicine as Women's Cancer Survivorship Research Coordinator based in the Mater hospital. Yvonne also works in private practice As we say at the top of the episode, talking with Yvonne really opened our eyes to the different relationships and the discussions that happen within those relationships when it comes to Cancer. We learned so much and we hope you do too. Feel free to reach out to us if you have any queries and follow on social media for more info on upcoming episodes IG: @theanswersforcancer_podcast E: theanswersforcancers@gmail.com 

COMING SOON !!! The answers for cancers podcast is a nurse-led initiative aimed at breaking down all aspects of cancers into language we can all understand. From consultant diagnosis to treatment plans, from managing your symptoms to supports available we have it covered. We speak to experts in their field to unravel what it truly means to have cancer. So whether you or a loved one has been personally affected by cancer or you are working in oncology and want to know more this podcast is for you. IG: @theanswersforcancers_podcast