18 year old Katy Corrigan who is currently being treated for Hodgkin’s lymphoma and is keeping cheerful despite the illness
DESPITE being diagnosed with cancer less than two months ago one Churchill teenager has declared it is only a blip in her young life and is already looking forward to university next year.
Eighteen-year-old Katy Corrigan was diagnosed with stage three Hodgkin’s lymphoma back on June 20, but the former Enniskillen Collegiate student is staying positive. Speaking to the Herald she explained how an innocuous lump on her neck turned into something much more serious.
“It was just before my exams were starting I was scratching my neck and I found a lump and this was around the end of April at Easter.”
After getting eczema on her legs she visited the doctor and mentioned the lump. She was then sent for a routine ultrasound to be on the safe side.
A few weeks later during her exams period Katy started to feel poorly and tired, but assumed it was just stress on account of her A Levels. After another visit to the doctor with her mother, blood tests showed nothing, before a further ultrasound, chest x-ray and CT Scan confirmed the worst.
Katy has since had the original lump removed from her neck.
She described the emotions at learning she had cancer at the age of just 18.
“I was fine when I was told, but then I asked ‘does this mean I’m not going to university?’ and then I cried. It was the one thing, I always wanted to go away. It was hard telling everyone. Rebecca (sister) was at work so we had to go and tell her and then telling Daddy and Judith (sister) who had been away in Australia since last September. We had to skype her and tell her.
“I think just telling people is harder, it doesn’t feel like it’s suddenly different.
“It’s not even finding out that you have cancer it’s finding out the stuff you can’t do because of it. I found out on the Friday and I was supposed to be going on holiday with my friends on the Tuesday We had literally been talking about our girls holiday since we were 15 so that was really annoying.
“The doctor said maybe it is linked to the virus that gives you glandular fever and seven girls in my year had glandular fever, but I didn’t get it, so we were saying maybe it took to me in a different way.”
Katy has been indebted to the support of family and friends and inundated with cards and visitors since she was diagnosed. She has also received support from local people who have experienced the same disease, including Lisnaskea teenager and former Mount Lourdes pupil Ciara McDonald.
“It’s crazy, random people are sending me cards, all my teachers have been really good, they have all sent me wee cards. Everyone wants to come and visit so it’s quite overwhelming all the support.
“I have just been getting really positive stories, literally everyone is saying ‘I know it’s cancer, but it’s a really good cancer to have’. That’s what I kept hearing.”
Katy has undergone three of 12 scheduled treatments of chemotherapy and so far has had no ill-effects. Katy has a high survival rate of between 80 and 90% and even though she has cancer, knows things could be a lot worse.
“It wasn’t the best thing, but it wasn’t exactly the worst news in the world either. I go up and down to the Bridgewater Suite in the hospital and you see people, you hear or you’re talking to people who have it so much worse so there’s not really much I can complain about. I have got such a high survival rate and such positive stories from everyone else so if there’s people sitting up there in far worse situations than me I really can’t complain too much.”
Katy had hoped to study Food Science and Nutrition at the University of Leeds in September, but has deferred her entry for the year.
“Not being able to go to university is the probably the worst thing, but everyone keeps telling me that I will be going next year.
“It’s just a wee blip and that’s what I’m going to take it as. There’s no point in thinking anything else, because there’s nothing I can do about it, I just have to get on with it.”
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