Journalist Una Mullally has opened up about being told that she is now cancer-free saying she feels "incredibly thankful" to get the news, and that the experience has changed her perspective on life.
The 32-year-old Irish Times columnist and well known gay rights campaigner joined Ray D'Arcy on RTÉ Radio 1 this afternoon to talk about her happy news saying:
I am cancer free as of now. Hurrah!
Mullally was diagnosed with stage three bowel cancer earlier this year and has now been given the all-clear by her doctors after undergoing intensive radiation therapy and chemotherapy by infusion.
She told Ray that she was able to cease treatment 6 months ahead of schedule as her body responded so well to the therapy.
"It's crazy, it feels like the year is made up of a different kind of, unit of time, the whole thing went so quickly but in such a weird kind of way," she said. "It's unprecedented that I would be in this position at this point in time, so I'm really lucky."
While she has been given the all-clear, she added that she will remain highly monitored for the next 5 years in case the cancer redevelops, "This is the weird thing, there's weird terminology around it, I have no cancer in my body that they can see... By that count I'm cancer free, but they can't say you're cured until 5 years down the line."
Una first joined Ray on air in April to discuss her diagnosis
Speaking about the moment she got the good news, Mullally said it took a while for it to sink in, but she was overjoyed to be able to tell her friends and family that she was in the clear, "It took a real while to sink in, and I think with big surgeries as well, they're really hard on your body, I had a terrible time the first couple of days after them... So there's so much going on, that I haven't been able to have a chance to be like 'yay', but now I'm really happy, and wrecked."
On how the illness has impacted her outlook on life she said she no longer sweats the small stuff, "I think anyone that experiences serious illness or has to think about their own mortality in real and practical terms, you start to understand what perspective really means.
"I've become more sensitive I think and a lot more vulnerable, and I wouldn't have described myself like that before, and really grateful."
