6 days ago
'I beat thyroid cancer at 18 - now I'm chasing my dream as Rose of Tralee'
Texas Rose Sara Costa has opened up about overcoming thyroid cancer at just 18 years old as she hopes to be crowned this year's Rose of Tralee.
The 21-year-old, whose Irish roots hail from Collooney, Co Sligo, has travelled from Austin, Texas to Kerry for this year's 65th International Festival.
Sara explained: "I was diagnosed with metastatic thyroid cancer in 2022. I was 18 years old. All my friends were going off to university, and I had a big surgery. So I had a radical modified neck dissection here, took out my thyroid and 76 lymph nodes, so I have no lymph nodes in the left side of my neck anymore. So that was really a hard time for me.
"I felt kind of left behind because all my friends were going off to university, and I had to stay back and pursue treatment options and have this big surgery. But it taught me a lot about resilience and perseverance, and I knew that, you know, there were good things on the other side.
"So everything I've gone through with that has shaped me and formed me into the person that I am today. So I'm thankful for it."
Sara said she was "absolutely shocked" when doctors told her she had cancer, saying she found it "very damaging" when medical professionals referred to her cancer as the better illness to get.
"Absolutely shocked. I never would have expected that even the doctors were like, you're 18 years old, you're very active, you're very healthy. Never would have expected it. But there is a common saying from medical professionals, when they're diagnosing someone with thyroid cancer, they'll tell you, Oh, this is the good cancer.
"Or if there's any kind of cancer you'd want to have, it's this one. And I found that to be very damaging as a young person, because it totally disrupted my life. I think although cancer, thyroid cancer, has a really good prognosis, about 98 to 99% of cancer patients, at least, the American statistics say, they survive.
"So that's a great prognosis at the end of the day. It also, you know, should be noted that cancer has one job, and it's to destroy your body. It's gonna do that to the best of its abilities. There is no such thing as good cancer."
Sara opened up about her symptoms in a bid to warn others.
"I actually had a very well functioning thyroid. I had no physical symptoms, except for the fact that I had tonsillitis. And after having tonsillitis, I had one lymph node that swelled up when I was sick, and instead of going back down after my sickness, it stayed and it got hard and it got bigger.
"So I just had one big lymph node on the left side of my neck actually went to like, three different medical professionals before someone actually finally checked it out and did blood work and did a biopsy. I think healthcare for women also tends to be that way, where maybe you're being a little bit hysterical or a little bit dramatic. So they send you home and say, take Tylenol. Come back to us when you feel better and you know it was something more serious."
Sara said becoming a Rose of Tralee was something she always wanted to do.
"I believe it's very empowering. I think as a woman, it's very rare to have 10 days of pure celebration of you, celebration of where you come from, and a true, genuine celebration of friendship and something that we all share in common. So that's what it means to me. On a broader scale, I also am studying Political Communications in school, and would love to get into diplomacy in the future.
"And I think it's really an amazing opportunity at the age of 21 to be able to represent something that's important to me, because it kind of ties into the career that I want to have in the future," she added.
Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest news from the Irish Mirror direct to your inbox: Sign up here.
