Operation Transformation is back, so it's time to break out the leggings, start counting those steps and – most importantly – meet your new leaders!
Taking on a challenge like OT in the midst of one of the most globally challenging years in recent times is no mean feat, so you can guarantee this year's five leaders are made of tough stuff.
When many of us would – understandably – prefer to sit on the couch and eat our way into the new year, these leaders have stepped forward to make changes in their lives, and do it all on television.
Each day for the next few days, we'll reveal a new leader and tell you everything you need to know about them.
"I remember saying to you @gokathrynthomas when we first met, I want to be fab at 50, and you said sure why not be fab at 48!!" 👊 🙌 😃 Meet Hazel from Limerick, our 3rd leader for #OperationTransformation 🤩 See our next leader reveal tomorrow & watch @RTEOne this Wed @9.35pm pic.twitter.com/nLHxEtXpTa
— OT RTÉ (@OpTranRTE) January 4, 2021
Hazel Hartigan
Age: 47
Occupation: Staff Nurse at St John's Hospital, Limerick
Location: Pallaskenry, Co. Limerick
Weight: 20 stone 7 lb
It's been an eventful 12 months for Hazel Hartigan from Pallaskenry, Co. Limerick. The full-time nurse contracted Covid-19 in April 2020 and self-isolated at home until her symptoms cleared, making certain her family didn't catch it.
So she knows a thing or two about challenges.
Now a mother of two children, Tommy, 20, and Grace, 14, Hazel says she would have been known for being wild in her 20s. She says she first became aware of her weight at around 13, but during those life-loving days in her 20s she was fairly oblivious to it.
After marrying her husband, Richard, in 1999 after six years of dating, Hazel had her first child in 2000, followed by twin girls – Chloe and Niamh – in 2002. However, Niamh was tragically stillborn and Chloe was later diagnosed with cerebral palsy, global developmental delay and chronic lung disease.
Hazel soon became Chloe's full-time carer. All of this, with her other child aged just 18 months.
In 2006, Grace was born but that joy was bittersweet as just over a year later Chloe – then just five years old – passed away.
Hazel had always dreamed of becoming a nurse – she worked as a cleaner and catering attendant in University of Limerick Hospital from 1996 until 2018 – and since becoming one she has loved it. She understands the work better from having spent so much time in and out of hospital with Chloe.
In 2015, seven years after Chloe passed away and after years of telling Richard she wanted to do nursing, she finally took the big step at 42 to return to education and she started her nursing studies. She qualified in January 2019 and she is a staff nurse in St John’s Hospital.
Weight has always been an issue for Hazel. She's done the slimming clubs and has been successful but says that as soon as she takes her foot off the pedal, her weight climbs back up again.
The last time she was happy with her weight was when Tommy was making his confirmation. She had lost 5 ½ stone and felt amazing. Now, she says she wants to feel like that again.
