A Co Fermanagh organisation helping people who have undergone a cancer diagnosis is helping bring vital services to those in the county.
SWELL (Supported, We Live Life), was set up in 2018 by cancer survivors Genevieve Irvine and Lorraine Lily who live in Enniskillen, and now has more than 150 members.
The group, which has secured its first premises in Enniskillen which it hopes to open next month, provides regular activities, meetings and support for local cancer patients both during and after their treatment.
Speaking to MyFermanagh, Genevieve said: “The group was founded by myself and Lorraine Lily, we are two cancer patients ourselves and we got very frustrated that we felt abandoned in Fermanagh.
“We were at a fatigue course in Belfast and we had to get up at 6am and drive to Belfast for a 45-minute class.
“We went down the road and had a coffee in the Killyhevlin, and then two weeks later there were four of us and it went from there and now we have 150 members.
“As a committee we have worked very hard in the background to get premises. What we had been doing was meeting in different church halls, schools or community centres, so we have just secured new premises in Enniskillen with funding from the Lottery for counselling and complementary therapies.
“We’re a group for cancer patients but we’re not a boo-hoo group, it’s activity-based peer support, and we do want to expand out for anyone affected by cancer, including family, friends and carers.
“All our committee members have had a cancer diagnosis. We wanted a group for local people which is accessible for them.
“Transport is just dreadful, there might be a bus that comes in from Enniskillen once a week from some of the smaller towns and villages within Fermanagh itself.”
The SWELL group’s co-founder added the key ethos of the organisation and its members was ensuring that those who have been impacted by a cancer diagnosis are able to live their lives to the full.
Genevieve said: “Our intentions were as long as you are alive you still have a life to lead and a life to live, and cancer isn’t always gloom and tears. You can have fun and you can have laughter.
“Once we have our premises I think the community will get on board and want to help.”
“I was diagnosed in 2015, at the moment I have no evidence of disease but I have a very rare type of uterine cervical cancer, so I have to go for check ups every six months.”
Genevieve added that services and activities run by SWELL were "non-existent" in Co Fermanagh before the group came about.
As well as regular meetings and activities in Co Fermanagh, trips are organised to the likes of Cuilcagh Boardwalk, while the group are "not averse" to a stop at the pub on the way home either.
Genevieve said: “These services were not even inadequate in Fermanagh, they were non-existent, there was nowhere for you to go, nothing for you to do.
“We were sitting in Belfast and we could see you could do yoga, you could meet for a coffee or join a choir or there was tai-chi. Fatigue courses, nutritional courses, there was just so much.
“We started to ask what’s wrong with us? We felt abandoned to be totally honest. So the two of us decided we need to do this and change something.
“I think the bigger charities are realising now the need to come out to the smaller communities.
“There was a desperate need and still is a desperate need to help people. People are being disadvantaged by geography.
“It happens anybody that is dying in Fermanagh, especially with cancer patients. You have a different death in Fermanagh than you could have in Belfast.
“In some instances people just can’t afford the time or the money to be able to drive the three-hour return journey to Belfast for these services.
“The mental strain of that alone and then worrying about who looks after your children when you do that trip. It’s not realistic.
“The services that all these charities provide are absolutely fantastic and they do a fantastic job, it’s just they’re not next door to me.”
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