A Fermanagh woman who lost both her parents to cancer is now supporting other families facing a diagnosis of their own.
Lisa Fee has been working in the role of family support worker with Cancer Focus for the past three years. She felt the need to work with the charity after her parents passed away due to cancer.
“Just before Covid in 2020, I joined Cancer Focus as a session councillor, before this post came up within the organisation in 2022 and I’ve been here since,” Lisa told the ‘Herald.
“Before that, my parents passed away following a battle with cancer and I’ve had relatives who have been affected. I decided that something needed to change for me.”
In her role as family support worker, Lisa works closely with people who have received a cancer diagnosis and their extended family.
Experiencing at first hand the effect the diagnosis can have on a family, Lisa recognises that many people cope differently.
“It’s not just the person that has the diagnosis that feels it,” she said.
“It ripples out into the entire family in different ways and our aim is to support the family unit.
“This service is very unique and bespoke. We sit with every family and we look at where they are what their needs are at that moment in time.”
Care and kindness
After receiving a cancer diagnosis, many people struggle to break the news to their family.
Lisa feels it’s important that communication is clear to everyone involved.
“Cancer is a very scary word. Parents might think they’re protecting their children by not telling them, or maybe they don’t know what to say,” explained Lisa.
“It always comes from a place of love, care and kindness. My role is to give them information that they can make an informed choice about what’s right for them and their families.”
Cancer care in Fermanagh has been revitalised over the past months following the opening of the new state-of-the-art Cancer Focus centre in Enniskillen.
Providing a range of support services, hundreds of people from across the county have stopped off at the centre in the High Street.
Lisa feels that it’s important that residents in Fermanagh are aware of the support networks that exist locally.
“I’m very proud to be a Fermanagh person born and bred. I know how people have felt here, that Fermanagh has been forgotten about, so this is massive,” she said.
“Not all families are ready for support, so it’s knowing that it’s there. If you know there’s a safety net underneath you, it’s a lot easier. For families and individuals to know that we are there for them when they’re ready, without judgment, in a safe space to give them time to find out what they need in an informal way is very important.”
While the role comes with significant challenges, Lisa finds it rewarding to be able to support families in their time of need.
“One of the big things about my job is it’s lovely when you can be there for people,” said the Fermanagh mother. We get a lot of end of life or late diagnosis with short prognosis. It’s heartbreaking when you see a family that have missed, whether they didn’t know what the service was about, or haven’t known it was there.
“They come in and I’ve sat with people who have cried and said they wished they knew that this service was here. That’s heartbreaking.”
