Donegal Rose Chloe Kennedy revealed that she was diagnosed with cancer last year and having received the all-clear in April, said she hoped her story would be an inspiration to others.
The 20-year-old, who was born and raised in Donegal Town and who has completed her first year in psychology at Maynooth University, provided one of the most inspirational stories of this year's Rose of Tralee on Tuesday night.
Speaking to host Dáithí Ó Sé onstage in the Dome in Kerry, she said: "I finished my chemotherapy in April. Before I was diagnosed, I was feeling fine. I had a bit of a lump but I didn't think much of it until I want to the doctor for something else and I mentioned it in passing and he said he knew from the start that he knew what it was. So we had to go get tests and we found out."
With her family looking on in the audience, Chloe was asked how she felt when she was told she had cancer.
"It was actually my mum who told me and it didn't feel real, it was kind of like you're floating above yourself," she said.
"I felt worse for my parents having to break that news. It was harder seeing what it did to other people because I knew we could get through it. We're a strong family and I found strength within myself I never knew I had.
"I let myself have a bad day but I always try to have a good day after, to get myself out of the house and push myself to keep going. I knew we could get through it and we did. We had such a great team around me, my doctors, my nurses. They're phenomenal at keeping the spirits up.
"The day I was told it was gone was phenomenal. It's the best feeling in the world. I hope that people who get that diagnosis will hear that one day, I really do."
"Even going to chemo you know you're going half dreading it but looking forward to seeing the nurses and having the craic with them," she added.
In a special video message played in the Dome on Tuesday night, fellow cancer survivor Majella O'Donnell wished Chloe well and told her she was an inspiration to anyone who had battled cancer.
Chloe also said that the chemotherapy treatment did not affect her that much and added that she would be ill for a few days but then have "a good week".
"I'd go back to see my friends in college, I'd go on the sesh sometimes," she laughed. "I just made the most of it. That's all you can do really; make the most of it. The day I was told it was gone was phenomenal. It's the best feeling in the world. I hope that people who get that diagnosis will hear that one day, I really do."
