Derry cancer research to be presented at international conference

Stories told by Derry people about the mental health impact of their cancer surgeries are to be heard at an international cancer conference.

The conference, in Norway in April, will learn about a collaborative research project undertaken by the city’s Hive Cancer Support (formerly Pink Ladies) and Ulster University, Magee.

The project culminated in the stunning ‘We Carry On Mural’ on Strand Road, designed by Peaball graffiti collective.

Speaking to Derry Now on World Cancer Day, Dr Carrie Flannagan, who worked on the project with her colleague Dr Claire McCauley, described it as “having a profound impact” nationally and internationally.

Dr Flannagan, a lecturer within the School of Nursing and Paramedic Science at Ulster University, said she was delighted to mark World Cancer Day with Hive at its World Cancer Day conference in the City Hotel.

“This gave us an outstanding opportunity to present a bit more of the background of the mural and put it into context with some other local research projects, quite innovative work, that has been going on,” she said.

“It was fantastic to be able to represent the work we have done with Hive, with Dr McCauley as lead researcher and Maureen Collins as lead project manager, and all of their team. Myself and two of my colleagues were also there representing Ulster University Cancer Care Research Group.

“The work with Hive, the ‘We Carry On’ project, began some months ago. It had an innovative funding framework. The grant came from the Ideas Fund and Hive was the main fund holder.

“Because Maureen had worked with Claire, who is also a lecturer in the School of Nursing and Paramedic Science, across a couple of different projects, they were able to work flexibly and collaboratively.

“Hive, our community partner, was involved from the very beginning of the project, all the way through and that was quite different from many of the other pieces of work that Claire and I had done. That is one of the important messages to get across from this research.”

Dr Flannagan explained that Hive was involved in designing the interview guide.

Dr Carrie Flanagan, Dr Jeff Hanna and Professor Cherith Semple, Ulster University.

“This helped us to maintain a consistent approach across all the participants. It also helped to focus the conversation directly on the mental health impact of having surgical procedures as part of cancer treatment,” she added.

“We needed to understand this really clearly in order to arrive at one of the key outputs of the project  - the mural - which we got at the end of the journey.”

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Outlining the process, Dr Flannagan said the ‘We Carry On’ project consisted of 14 interviews “or conversations” last summer.

She explained: “We spoke to 12 women and 2 men and they represented a variety of cancer experiences - lung, colorectal, breast cancer and some gynaecological cancers as well.  

“One of the key points that came from our analysis and our careful reading of the interview transcripts was a feeling of loss.

“That sounds obvious but it was not only the physical manifestation of that - all of the people we spoke to had experienced surgical treatment - it was also the mental and emotional impact. 

“Many of them expressed a sense of loss of personhood, a sense of loss of themselves and their identity throughout this experience.

“They also expressed a feeling of endurance. On the one hand that can be hugely powerful in terms of strength but what they are also enduring is a daily recognition and awareness and fear the cancer may come back. 

“Even at the conference, I had a number of people come up to the stand and that is what they spoke about. Although the cancer had been surgically removed and they completed their treatment any number of years ago, that feeling of fear of recurrence is something with which they are coping.

IN PICTURES: Hive Cancer Support World Cancer Day conference in Derry's City Hotel

Derry marked World Cancer Day with Hive Cancer Support conference

“Claire has also expressed so well in the writing she has done for the project - the feeling of containing. 

“People who have gone through this type of treatment feel the necessity to contain their emotions of fear and the trauma and the scars as a way of protecting those around them. That came up very clearly through the interviews.

“What was interesting was that it wasn't just those who had gone through this experience more recently but also those who had experienced it eight or ten years ago. That feeling continued.

“In fact, for some of them, going through the interview process almost reawakened this sense that, ‘You know, we never talk about that’. It was more, ‘You’re fine now’. Everybody else was moving on and they were not able to do that. I think that that also had a profound impact.”

Dr Flannagan also alluded to the people interviewed for the ‘We Carry On’ Project as having a feeling of transformation. 

“The cancer treatment they had undergone had recreated their perception of themselves. It affected their relationships with others, their family members and themselves, which subsequently needed to be recalibrated. They had gone through this experience and they weren’t going to land in the same place,.

“Whatever this looked like for them, it wasn’t about going back to ‘normal’, it was about moving forward and finding a way to fit this into their headspace, into their perception.

Sharon Williams (Compassionate Communities NI), Edelle Harrigan-Edgar (I Am Self-Care), Sharon Tosh (Compassionate Communities NI), Paula McCool (Developing Healthy Communities), and Maureen Collins (Hive Cancer Support Project Manager).

“The whole Project was a truly collaborative effort  - being able to identify these key findings and work with the Peaball graffiti collective, which was able to capture the essence of what these participants had shared with us, so beautifully and so profoundly. None of us quite knew what to expect. 

“I am delighted we have been asked to present the work at a conference coming in Norway in April and that will give us another platform to really explore being able to find a universal way to express these experiences, quite personal experiences and quite unique, through art and creative media.

“This is something which is happening more and more and I am delighted we are going to be able to present this as part of the conference.”