Sailor wins health fight to teach children about poppies
When Laura O’neill rolls into schools with her Poppyscotland truck, few of the youngsters could guess at her remarkable achievements, writes Sally Mcdonald.
O’neill made naval history before twice battling back from the brink of death, finally becoming the face of Bud, a mobile museum that teaches about Poppyscotland’s work with war veterans.
The former engineer, 47, is reported to have been only the second woman in the history of the Royal Navy to be in charge of maintaining aircraft at sea. She saw active service in the Bosnian war on board HMS Invincible and Ark Royal and, at the pinnacle of her career, was involved in critical, top-secret counterterrorism work – a job she had to give up after her two terrifying brushes with death.
But O’neill found a new beginning as a learning and outreach officer with Poppyscotland, which this week received a Ministry of Defence Employer Recognition Gold Award for its efforts to help Armed Forces personnel into civilian jobs. A delighted O’neill told The Sunday Post: “The work of Poppyscotland is outstanding. I’m lucky to be here and to see it happen.”
Two years after her first deployment to the Mediterranean, when her daughter was a toddler, O’neill was diagnosed with breast cancer and was told she had just 18 to 24 months to live. Then, during treatment to prolong survival, she developed potentially deadly sepsis (blood poisoning) that caused multiple organ failure. Miraculously, she survived.
Finally, after the ravages of a double mastectomy, and gruelling chemotherapy and radiotherapy, she was medically discharged from the service to which she had devoted 26 years.
The former Chief Petty Officer, who grew up in East Kilbride and lives in Edinburgh with her Royal Navy husband Paul, 53, and daughter Lily, 17, joined the RN straight from school, completing her training in 1996. She said: “When I turned 18, I joined the aircraft carrier HMS Invincible as part of 800 Squadron – a Sea Harrier squadron, working on the aircraft.
“I later transferred to the Ark Royal all as part of Operation Deny Flight, protecting the no-fly zone over Bosnia and Herzegovina. I spent the rest of my Royal Naval career with Lynx aircraft until after my illness and was the second female to be in charge of a Lynx flight at sea on a frigate, HMS Somerset. I was at the peak of my career in working in UK counter-terrorism when I was diagnosed with cancer in 2009. I was given 18 to 24 months to live. I wasn’t allowed in work again. That was a double blow.”
She said: “I had a partial mastectomy, followed by six months of chemo but I got sepsis towards the end. A blood transfusion brought me back,” she said. Later, in 2012 she had a double mastectomy.
O’neill told The Post: “I relished my time in the Royal Navy and I am passionate about my work with Poppyscotland. The fact I am still here, enjoying life shows there can be a future after cancer.”