Latest news with #VeryPinkRun
Irish Independent
a day ago
- Health
- Irish Independent
'My gut told me it was cancer' says nurse who discovered lump on day she was due to view wedding menus
Now married with two sons and cancer-free, the Co Louth-based nurse is one of the ambassadors for Breast Cancer Ireland's Very Pink Run which takes place in early September. Deidre, who works in the Ladywell Centre, Dundalk, is sharing her story to raise awareness around the importance of women doing regular self-examinations, no matter what age they are. "I was so lucky that I checked my breasts regularly. The lump was still very small but it was stage 2 and was growing very quickly so if I hadn't caught it, I could have been stage 3 before it was detected,' says Deidre who was only 29 when she was diagnosed. 'My story starts on December 2, 2018,' she recalls. 'I would usually do a breast check every few weeks. I was getting ready for a shower and did my self exam and found a lump. I knew instinctively it wasn't normal. "My gut told me straight away it was cancer. I told my fiancé (now husband) what I found and we agreed we would go to the GP first thing Monday morning. The day I found my lump we were going for our wedding menu tasting.' Her GP referred her to breast clinic in Beaumont and she. was sent for an ultrasound on February 14, 2019. "It was a very romantic Valentine's,' she quips even though at the time, she knew that something was wrong. 'The sonographer was a lovely woman and I knew by her face something wasn't right. She did a biopsy and my worst fears were confirmed in my head. It was just a matter of waiting. 'The following week I was called back and told yes it is cancer. Even though I knew, it was still one of the worst moments of my life,' says the Co Meath native. "This was four weeks before my wedding. I was 29 years old. A very fit and healthy woman. I didn't smoke, didn't drink excessively. Ate very healthily. No family history of breast cancer. I couldn't get my head around it all. I was terrified. She recalls that the doctor explained what would happen next. "I heard the words surgery, chemotherapy, radiation. I am a nurse and have nursed people who have gone through this. I never believed it would be me. I had one son and two step children at the time and all I could think of was them.' The following few weeks were a blur of wedding preparations and surgery. "I was referred to the Rotunda for egg harvesting and was up and down the road to Dublin a couple of times a week. We had to cancel our dream honeymoon as at the time I was waiting for results of lumpectomy and to see if it had spread. Thankfully it hadn't spread but I was then told it was triple negative breast cancer.' Deidre says that the couple had their 'beautiful wedding and a short honeymoon in Ireland' before she started treatment. "Overall I feel I am one of the lucky ones. I tolerated the chemo well and managed the radiation with little side effects.' She also took part in a clinical trial which will hopefully improve the outcomes for those with my diagnosis. "I've had genetic testing and so far have shown no genetic predisposition. I'm so glad that early detection meant I was treated early and my cancer was managed.' Since then, Deidre has had two little boys, Harry who was born in 2021 and Leo who was born in 2023, and the family live near Knockbridge outside Dundalk. "I am keeping well. I am now six year's cancer-free and hopefully will continue to do well.' Apart from attending routine yearly check-ups, Deidre says she doesn't dwell on the fact that she had cancer and doesn't let it stop her from living her life. Over the years she has raised funds for Breast Cancer Ireland, taking part in the various runs and even organising her own coffee morning that raised over €8,500. She is now looking forward to taking part in the Very Pink Run at Leopardstown Race Course on September 6. Although she likes working out in the gym and walking, she says she will be running not walking as she wants to stay with the group of supporters who are accompanying her to the fun, family-friendly festival style day out with music and food. "I have people of various ages and abilities coming with me so I want to stay with them,' she says. The event at Leopardstown is one of three taking place around the country, with the others at the MTU campus in Cork on September 7 and in Kilkenny Castle Park on September 14 with 5k and 10k course options. Participants can also take part 'virtually', anywhere that suits them, across local communities and indeed across the world. Registration is at and all funds raised will support Breast Cancer Ireland's pioneering research into metastatic disease progression and awareness programmes nationally. Participants can take part by running, jogging or walking, in one of three live large-scale physical events. Alternatively, people can also take part in a 'virtual' sense in their own local communities any time between September 6 and 14.
Sunday World
09-08-2025
- Entertainment
- Sunday World
DWTS pro Laura Nolan reveals her mam picked dress for wedding to Love Island star
wedding belle | Chilled Dancing With The Stars winner Laura Nolan is taking wedding planning one step at a time with her fiance Matthew MacNabb. The Dancing With The Stars winner is more or less organised to wed Matthew MacNabb — whom she met when they were partnered on the 2022 season of the show — in Ireland next May, with only the guest list and their first dance yet to be ironed out. 'It's one of those things that's still up for debate,' begins Laura over the phone from LA, where the couple have been living since last year. 'Everyone keeps saying, 'Oh, the first dance, the first dance' … we're unsure if we're going to do a full-on dance or just do [something] a little bit more intimate, because I don't want it to become like another dance that you'd see on Dancing With The Stars, where it's not intimate between the two of us. Laura and Matthew set the dancefloor alight when they were partnered on the hugely popular show in season five in 2022 'People will be like, 'Ah yeah, sure we know she can dance anyway', so we still haven't decided whether we'll do a first dance or not.' Ballroom and Latin queen Laura, who has been dancing since childhood, and 'fitfluencer' Matthew (30), who found fame on Love Island in 2020, were eliminated during the semi-final of season five of the RTÉ hit. Read more Love won out away from the dancefloor, however, as the pair began dating during rehearsals, before ultimately getting engaged late last year, when the romantic Co Down man got down on one knee on a beach in California at sunset. 'We're getting married on May 30 next year,' shares the anti-bridezilla from Dublin, who'll also toast her 32nd birthday on day two of celebrations. Laura and Matthew on the dancefloor 'It's the bank holiday weekend, so we've organised a lot of the stuff that could get booked up, so we feel very organised, very chilled. 'A lot of people are like, 'Yeah, yeah, just wait until six weeks out, you'll be panicking!' But we're not really like that … I never understand that after putting so much work into something, and money, why you would get stressed. 'Our families are all looking forward to it. My mam already has her outfit sorted for it, so does Matthew's mam, and they're all excited for it. 'I said yes to the dress [too], and I have a dress for the evening time as well. My mam picked my dress out, it was the very first dress I tried on. Excluding the dress-picking process, she praises her enthusiastic groom: '[Matthew's] been very much a big part of everything. 'I was expecting him to just kind of leave most of it to me, but he's very much into it too. I wouldn't make a decision without putting it by him first.' The couple, who will celebrate their nuptials at Kilkea Castle in Kildare, are currently packing to return to Ireland after an action-packed year in the City of Dreams, which they shared with their combined 323k followers on Instagram. Laura is proud to be an ambassador for the Very Pink Run But the self-confessed 'home bird', who won DWTS with Olympian Rhys McClenaghan, teases that she could be jetting back to Hollywood for work in the future. 'I'm waiting to see if an opportunity comes through which I've been working on — I'll know in the next few weeks. 'But we have our flights booked for September 3 to go home. 'Myself and Matthew got our 0-1 visas for three years, so we said we'll give it a go, and see what opportunities come our way. 'It's such a different world, especially when you come over here for the first time … and the dance scene is huge. 'I love it over here, it is like a big adventure, but to live full-term, no, I couldn't see myself [moving permanently], to be honest. I'm too much of a home bird for that. 'I am looking forward to getting home,' continues the Lucan woman, who previously lived in Italy for five years. 'I've decided that once I get back I'm going to set up my dance academy, with the idea of teaching adults and children ballroom and Latin, line dancing, all of that, at a really high level. [So that the] children could go on and actually audition for different roles in the West End, or for the likes of Dancing With The Stars once they get to that age.' The world champion dancer credits TikTok, and its 'absolutely fantastic' dance challenges, for helping to get kids moving again in recent years. Dancing With The Stars winner Laura Nolan And she laughs at the prospect of there even being an Irish dancer in Áras an Uachtaráin after Michael Flatley confirmed he intends to join the presidential race, shortly before chatting with Magazine+ at 8am LA time. 'I literally just saw that on the news, I was like, 'That is hilarious!' 'Laura for President 20-20-whatever!'' she jokes. As well as her busy dance schedule, the 31-year-old attributes her shredded physique to gruelling 'hot yoga sculpt' classes, or 'basically hot yoga with weights', and she's also returned to running as she prepares to lace up for Breast Cancer Ireland Very Pink Run. The fun-filled fundraising event takes place in Dublin, Kilkenny and Cork between September 6-14, but participants can also partake at a time, place or pace that better suits them. 'I actually did the Very Pink Run during Covid by myself there a few years back,' says Laura, '[So when] they reached out to me and asked would I like to be an ambassador, I was like, 'Absolutely, I'd love to'. 'I'm very lucky that [no one in the immediate family] has been affected by cancer; obviously, I do know people who have had it, [and] my friend's mam was diagnosed last year, so it's lovely to do that for her too. 'You see so many people, it doesn't matter if they're young or old, [who] are affected by it. So I think it's a fantastic thing to spread awareness.' Next up, while not yet formally confirmed by the national broadcaster, Dancing With The Stars season nine seems all but guaranteed to be the dancer's next big gig after through-the-roof ratings earlier this year. 'I can't believe we're saying that it's nine seasons,' Laura says. 'But, yes, I think it's looking very good for it, because it was such a good show last year, and the viewership was so high. 'I haven't gotten my Glitterball yet,' laughs the reigning champ. 'They actually take [the trophy seen on the show] off you the minute you come off the floor, but they do send out two miniature versions of the Glitterball to both of us. I'll probably get it towards the end of the year. 'When I do get it, it'll be sitting proud in my living room.'
Irish Independent
06-08-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Independent
Host of stars to support Very Pink Run for Breast Cancer Ireland
Runs will take place across Dublin, Cork and Kilkenny between September 6 and 14 to support breast cancer research, along with nationwide awareness and education programmes. The Very Pink Run, supported by online retailer Very, has grown into a global phenomenon since it was established, raising €7.3m to date, with over 97,000 participants across 40 countries. This year, the pink wave is set to sweep across Dublin on September 6, Cork on September 7, and Kilkenny on September 14, with thousands expected to attend. Several well-known faces have been announced as event ambassadors, including Virgin Media presenter Elaine Crowley, FM104's Thomas 'Crossy' Crosse and Zeinab Elguzouli, Dancing with the Stars winner and pro-dancer Laura Nolan, and 98FM presenter and performer Paul Ryder. Other ambassadors include Newstalk presenter Andrea Gilligan, presenter Kamal Ibrahim, and author and breast cancer survivor Nicola Hanney, alongside longstanding ambassadors Shane Byrne and presenter James Patrice. Councillor and former Lord Mayor of Dublin, Emma Blain, Lorraine Keane, Charlene Flanagan and Chris Connolly of Get Better with Chris, along with Dr Monica Oikeh and fitness guru Lesley Giltinan, are also going to lend their support. The ambassadors are set to help rally thousands of supporters across the country and abroad to support the cause. The chief of Breast Cancer Ireland, Aisling Hurley, said she "strongly believes that research and awareness are what will lead to zero deaths from breast cancer". "This event simply keeps growing year on year, as does our pink tribe of supporters," she said. "Each and every participant is playing a role in helping us to move the dial on research, awareness, novel treatments and therapies – and ultimately – survival of the 3,700 people diagnosed in Ireland each year. ADVERTISEMENT "Every pink t-shirt worn, every step taken, brings us one step closer to our goal of making this illness a treatable illness for all, and to powering a future entirely free from breast cancer," she added. It comes as one in seven women and one in 738 men are diagnosed with this disease in their lifetime. The funds raised through the event this year will be channelled into two targeted areas by Breast Cancer Ireland, including breast cancer research and improved patient outcomes. The registrations for the run are now open on the Very Pink Run website, as participants can take part by running, jogging or walking in one of three large-scale physical events. The 10k and 5k events in Dublin will take place at Leopardstown Race Course on Saturday, September 6, followed by 10k and 5k events in Cork at MTU, Bishopstown, on Sunday, September 7. Meanwhile, the 10k and 5k Kilkenny events will kick off in the grounds of Kilkenny Castle Park on Sunday, September 14. There are no upper or lower age limits and events are open to families, friends, solo participants, and four-legged friends. The organisers added people can expect a "fun, family festival style outing with music, games and children's entertainment".
