A perfect present...

ALMOST A YEAR TO THE DAY THAT LOCAL AUTHOR NICOLA PIERCE FOUND A LUMP IN HER BREAST AND BEGAN CANCER TREATMENT, SHE TELLS ALISON COMYN ABOUT GETTING THE ALL-CLEAR

LOCAL author Nicola Pierce received the best possible Christmas present last week, with the news she is cancer free. The popular writer of children’s fiction has endured five months of intensive chemotherapy, two major operations, one month of radiotherapy after a diagnosis of breast cancer last April.

Now she is delighted to say she has survived what 2018 threw at her and is looking forward to a bright new year and beyond.

‘It’s been a hell of a journey and I really can’t take it all in that I had my last radiation treatment today,’ said Nicola on Wednesday December 19th, the day of her last trip to Beaumont hospital.

‘It’s almost a year since I found a lump, and believe it or not, I have found it all a positive experience, as I have had the luxury in hindsight of finally learning how good people are.’

Nicola said the treatment was tough and she was terrified at times, but it was the support of others, sometimes complete strangers, which got her through it.

‘I couldn’t sleep the night before my first chemo treatment, and even though I never share anything about my personal life, I posted what was happening on facebook, and within a few minutes I was getting the most wonderful messages, saying ‘ you can do it’ and ‘we are all behind you’ and I have to say it really made such a huger difference,’ she said, her voice choking with emotion.

‘ There was one real low point I remember, when I was starting the radiation treatment, and I thought it might be easy – but what a culture shock! I was actually shaking with the shock, and the nurse who was treating me said, ‘none of this is easy’, and that’s when I started to respect all parts of the process.” Nicola was born in Tallaght in Dublin but has called Drogheda her home for almost eight years.

Her brush with cancer coincided with the launch of her sixth book ‘ Titanic’, which accompanied ‘Spirit of the Titanic’, ‘ Kings of the Boyne’, ‘I was a boy in Belsen’, ‘City of Fate’ and ‘Behind the Walls’ in her repertoire.

“I am so proud of that book, and the fact that I still managed to get it out with everything that was going,” she says with a grin.

“The launch was all a bit of a blur, and everyone was being so lovely, but I really had no idea what was ahead for me.”

Nicola had just started a new book about the Arctic prior to her diagnosis, but that had to go on ice for the length of her illness and treatment.

“I found the facebook posts very therapeutic and they weren’t always positive,” she explains.

“There were times the treatment made me so sick, and I was wrecked all the time, and lost three toenails, so I would write the good with the bad. But my novel would have to wait. I did have a go at poetry, which gave me a newfound respect for poets!”

I nap in the middle of most afternoons which is not me.

I can’t drink wine, not one single drop, which is not me.

I drink Evian instead, two litres a day, which is not me.

I mostly stick to a vegetarian’s diet which is not me.

I am almost bald, just some white strands for now, which is not me.

I want to apologise for my appearance, even at home, which is not me.

I am tired after one short walk, however slowly done, which is not me.

I am tired right now, from three hours of reading, in this very chair, which is not me.

I do not travel to promote my books in person which is not me.

I can’t untangle the plot of my novel, its deadline lost months ago, which is not me.

I never dance in the kitchen, where no one can see me, which is not me.

I prefer nights in, on the couch, in front of the TV, which is not me.

I think about cancer seven days a week which is not me.

I worry about dying anyway, when all this is done, which is not me.

I obsess about my one good vein, which must take lots more needles, which is not me.

I am obliged to focus on not demonising the needles which is not me.

I am fine about attending all hospital appointments which is not me.

I know the names of dozens of nurses which is not me.

I need help to walk home after chemo which is not me.

I accept help to walk home after chemo which is not me.

I know about scans, lymph nodes, anti-sickness tablets and steroids which is not me.

I inject myself in my stomach, without any drama, which is not me.

I fret about germs from strangers’ coughs and sneezes which is not me.

I light candles just for myself in churches which is not me.

I post personal stuff on Twitter and Facebook which is not me.

I poured milk into the kettle and boiled it to chaos which is not me.

I left the hob on twice and then my phone on it to burn which is not me.

I am fighting one of my biggest fears, trusting ‘ them’ with my body, following all orders which, I thought, was not me.

And, for that, I am occasionally - no – frequently proud of myself, at last, which is definitely not me.

Of course, it’s not entirely the end of the road for Nicola’s treatment, as she will spend the next few years fending off a reoccurrence.

“I will have to take a tablet for the next five years and get regular injections to keep it away,” says the author, who is engaged to local accountant Niall Carney.

“I have to thank so many people, and have to mention the dedicated and compassionate nurses of the Oncology Ward in the Lourdes, they made a summer of chemo much easier than it should have been. I also must say that I learned very quickly how lucky I was to live in Drogheda as the Gary Kelly Centre were and continue to be an important part of my life. Also, the daily trek to Beaumont for radiation was easy and effortless thanks to the wonderful Drogheda Hospice. I was picked up every day, driven to the hospital door and, when I was finished, my driver was ready to drive me back home again. I’m in contact with women online, who are going through this, who envied me the GK centre and DH.”

So has the urge to write returning to Nicola now that her health has improved?

“Well, I wrote the ending of the book during chemo, so now I have to work on the beginning,” she says with a smile.

“I have so much to look forward to – watching my favourite holiday movies like ‘Home Alone’ and ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ and being with all my friends and family.

‘It all reminds me how important they are, and it has really restored my faith in humans!”