RTE star Teresa Mannion has told how battling breast cancer gave her the confidence to do Dancing With The Stars.
The 55-year-old will be tumour-free for five years next February and said she’s become fearless since her brush with death.
She told RTE Guide: “I probably wouldn’t have done Dancing With The Stars before I got breast cancer.
“I was in my 50s, I had gone through a lot of chemo and that does takes a lot out of you physically.”
Famed for her weather report that went viral during Storm Desmond in 2015, she said becoming an internet sensation gave her a new lease of life.
Teresa added: “I recovered so well and then that video went viral so I started to embrace things – sure, why not do Dancing With The Stars? But here I am; I did it.” This month marks Breast Cancer Awareness month and Teresa is urging women to be alert to
the disease.
It was only when a friend went for a mammogram in 2013 that she decided to get herself checked.
She said: “Early detection is everything. I know that Breastcheck is sometimes criticised for over-treatment but I’m the perfect example of someone who is going, ‘Thank God for that’.” Losing her hair during treatment was a low point. Teresa added: “The rational side of your brain is going would you stop being so ridiculous.
“But when you see yourself in that moment in the mirror you feel then that you really are a cancer patient.
“It hit me hard, but I got to love my wig and people were saying, ‘How do you keep your hair like that?’ I sported a little bandana as well.”
Mindfulness sessions with Cancer Care West helped her psychologically deal with her battle, a constant reminder to be thankful that she escaped death.
She said: “Some of what I learned there was very good at stopping me getting into a tizzy of negative thinking.”
“Always in the background, I’m saying to myself you had a brush with mortality, so in the overall scheme of things this isn’t bad. And while I had a few little cries now and again I didn’t shut myself away from the world.
“I don’t obsess about cancer. Of course I did go through some low points during my treatment and sometimes I’d get this jolt thinking, Am I vulnerable to having cancer again?’
“In these moments, I wonder how did this happen to me, how did that disease come into my body?”
Teresa will host a special edition of Nationwide on dancing, ahead of the new season of Dancing With The Stars, and told how people flocking to her on the street is humbling.
She added: “A few weeks ago, a woman told me that she was going through treatment and in a really low place when she saw me on Dancing With The Stars.
“She said I was her inspiration and I was so humbled by that idea, that a light entertainment dance show could reach out to people and help them believe they could go on.”
To find out more about BreastCheck and how you can get a mammogram, you can call Freephone 1800 45 45 55 or visit www.breastcheck.ie. If you notice any symptoms you should contact your GP immediately.
