Derry experiencing cancer and mental health epidemic

Derry is experiencing a mental health epidemic and a cancer epidemic according to a local health advocate.

Maureen Collins, project manager with Hive Cancer Support - formerly Pink Ladies Cancer Group - said the situation was due to delayed diagnosis, screening and treatment.

Maureen was speaking to Derry Now in advance of the unveiling of the group’s ‘We Carry On’ mural on Strand Road on Thursday last.

We Carry On! - From Left Michelle McLaren Development Worker and Maureen Collins Project Manager at Hive Cancer Support, Dr Claire McCauley and Dr Carrie Flannagan of Ulster University, Sarah Duddy Programmes & Services Coordinator and Jacquie Loughrey Education and Prevention Officer at Hive Cancer Support with Donal O'Doherty of Peaball graffiti collective.

She added people were also delaying going for routine medical appointments because they did not want to further burden the NHS.

The ‘We Carry On’ mural was designed by Peaball graffiti collective based on new research from Ulster University into the mental health impact of cancer surgery, commissioned by Hive.

“We are not just talking about chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and treatment, things we can talk about openly,” said Maureen, “but the deep psychological impact of surgery and how that can leave a person feeling.

“People feel they are basically expected to go out and face the world, even though they are looking at themselves every day post surgery and possibly post two or three surgeries and wondering, ‘What happened? Who am I? Am I still here? Am I not still here? How do I move on with this?’

“Down the years within our organisation some people have expressed the feeling, ‘I am no longer a woman’ or ‘I am no longer a man’ because the pieces and the parts which come naturally to being male or female are not there. They are wondering, ‘What do I describe myself as?’

New mural tells the story of Derry cancer surgery thrivers

“It can go as deep as that in a wee conversation in a room or it can go, ‘I’m ugly’, ‘My hair’s gone’, ‘My teeth are gone’, ‘I don’t walk right anymore’ because it could be to do with a prosthesis. It doesn’t have to be your breast, your testicle or your prostate. It could be your lower limbs, your upper limbs, your eye, your ear. It could be so many things.

“The impact of that and the expectation that that’s grand now, all your surgery is done, your treatment is done, you’re cancer free, ring the bell, go on, get on with it, go forth and cope, can be overwhelming.”

Maureen said Hive discovered very early its support group activities - counselling, complementary therapies, the wrap-around holistic approach, needed to happen outside the medical environment.

“Cancer and treatment can affect your sexual relationships," she said. “It can affect marriages, mother and son relationships, and mother and daughter relationships because really, you are alone with those feelings and thoughts.

“We found, down the years, people’s partners didn’t want to touch them because they didn’t want to ‘break’ them or they didn’t want to hurt them or they didn’t know how to do it.

“We have also found more and more younger women, particularly over the past seven or eight years being diagnosed with breast cancer. It is becoming increasingly a hormonal cancer, being diagnosed in younger people. Luckily the success rates are still high.

“The threads coming out of that were about body image and how people felt, so we set up a group called ‘I Am Me’ made up of 40 plus people all living with body image issues.

“On top of that, we had covid and people who were diagnosed during covid, where services, treatments, emotional support as we know it and as it should be - the ordinary hug, the ordinary touch, the ordinary sitting having a cup of tea - didn’t happen.

“So, it became very apparent the mental health impact was getting stronger and bigger because there is a mental health epidemic and there is also a cancer epidemic.”

This is when Hive realised it needed to address the issue.

Maureen said: “An opportunity arose through the Ideas Fund, which is British Science Association funded by Wellcome Trust.

“Hive put forward our ‘I Am Me’ group as a participatory group which could take part in research. Our project was accepted and we got paired with Dr Claire McCauley, Lecturer with the School of Nursing and Paramedic Science at Ulster University, Magee.

“We wanted to produce something interactive and promotional as well as something researched-based. We came up with the idea of a mural on a prominent wall in the city, something the participants could take part in.

“They were presented with themes and involved in design workshops.

“Donal O’Doherty, our Peaball artist was passionate and creative.

“We hope the ‘We Carry On’ mural will spark healthy conversations in the city and internationally using the on site QR code. People will be able to access information regarding services and we will also raise awareness.

“The mural is extremely visible on the Strand Road. Hopefully it will give people pause to think, ‘I am that person. What can I do?’” said Maureen.

The ‘I Carry On’ mural depicts a sunflower in a Kintsugi vase.

Kintsugi, meaning join with gold, is the Japanese art of repairing broken objects, mainly pottery, with gold lacquer creating a more beautiful, stronger object.

Dr Claire McCauley said she was very attracted to the project by the idea of community participatory research.

Claire told Derry News the researchers and the Hive project team were in agreement that this was a “unique opportunity”.

She added: “We didn’t want to waste it by asking surface questions. Hive was already in a position to tell people about the mental health impact of living with the after-effects of cancer surgery, including a significant low mood and anxiety.

“We already knew that, so we owed it to everyone to go a wee bit deeper and find out the mechanics and the individual experience of what people were experiencing post cancer surgery and why.

“We wanted to find out what was happening to the person, while keeping the person at the forefront of our minds.

“Our interviews were intensive and I have to say, the courage and the bravery of the participants was overwhelming. My colleague, Dr Carrie Flannagan and I, both felt that. Their willingness to engage and go forward, led and supported by Hive was incredible,.”

Claire described her involvement in the research as a “humbling experience”.

“It was also an incredible driver as a researcher,” she added.

“That people were prepared to put themselves in that position and go to those places within themselves, for the good of everybody coming behind, makes you work a lot harder and be a lot more motivated and focused,” she said.

“The depth of what came through was staggering for everybody. It was a complete testament to what these participants were prepared to do.

“We discovered the significant personal journey people undergo during and after cancer treatment. The experience of a cancer surgery treatment is an assault on someone’s sense of who they are at that time in the world. How they were treated in that experience. How that was dealt with. Where they went?

“People also felt they had to contain their feelings for the sake of the people around them. To have the strength to be able to do that, to hold those emotions within themselves from a position of love, was amazing.

“They knew and faced fear and with that grew a sense of utter fearlessness,” said Claire.
Donal O’Doherty from the Peaball, the Street Art Collective said: “We here at Peaball would like to thank Hive, Ulster University and the participants that took part in the research for inviting us to be part of this amazing project.

“Street art can have the power to engage with its audience in a different way and we hope the finished piece can play a part in raising awareness of the impact of having cancer can have on peoples’ wellbeing.”

The ‘We Carry On’ mural was created using GrafClean paint which reacts with sunlight to reduce air pollution.