I took a jump for joy after recovery

Dec 27 2007 by David Higgerson, Liverpool Daily Post

WHEN Shirley O’Sullivan was told her battle with breast cancer had been a success, she realised that there was little left in life which scared her.

So she went and jumped out of a plane. For charity. And when friends and family watch the DVD of her quick descent to earth – part of a charity tandem skydive from 15,000ft – they always say the same thing.

“They all say that I don’t look scared,” laughs Shirley, from Gateacre. “And I wasn’t. Not even when we were up in the plane and just about to jump.

“It’s something I’d always want-ed to do, but never got around to. Having cancer was a big scare, and next to that, doing the skydive was nothing. And apparently that showed on my face.”

Shirley, who works for the Department for Work and Pensions, was diagnosed with cancer in September, 2003. She underwent intense treatment, including chemotherapy, surgery and radiotherapy, during the following year.

Just as she was finishing the last of her treatment, her mum – her best friend – died suddenly.

Shirley then developed lymphodema, a swelling of the limbs, following her cancer treatment, and regularly attends the Marie Curie Hospice’s Lymphodema Clinic as an Outpatient.

The Marie Curie Hospice, in Woolton village, is one of 10 nationally which, despite offering crucial care to cancer sufferers, relies heavily on charity work for its funds.

Shirley, 45, a mother-of-three and a season ticket holder at Everton FC, said: “My initial treatment was at the Linda McCartney Centre and I can’t fault the help I got there. They were fantastic.

“After that, I began going to Marie Curie for the Lymphodema Clinic, and the service they pro- vide is wonderful. So much hard work and effort goes into what they do, it is impossible not to feel inspired into helping them.”

Shirley’s work with Marie Curie began while she was still receiving treatment, first of all helping with Marie Curie’s annual spring daffodil walk. Since then, she has become a familiar face at most of the fund-raising activities carried out by the hospice, including the Great Daffodil Appeal (where collection boxes are put in workplaces), and the annual Lights to Remember Service.

She has also completed the Race For Life, the annual 5km event organised by Cancer Research UK, with her friend Julie Long, whoM she met while having treatment. Sadly, Julie died in November last year.

Family don’t escape Shirley’s determination to raise as much money to help others – husband John and sons Daniel, 23, Adam, 14, and Jonathan, 11, all regularly get involved.

Daniel will BE taking part in the Liverpool Hospice Trek in Morocco in September, 2008.

BUT the event she remembers most – so far – is the skydiving. She said: “We were talking about things we’d like to do, and I said skydiving. Then I was told you could do it and raise money for Marie Curie, so I thought, ‘Right, I’ll do that’.

“I know you have to take the chances while you can, and it’s something I’d do again tomorrow.

“The fact I work with Marie Curie meant I found a way of doing something I’d always wanted to, and that’s a door which opened which perhaps otherwise wouldn’t. You have to be positive.”

But one of the most satisfying parts of her work is talking to other women who have had breast cancer.

Working with Breast Cancer Care, Shirley now volunteers to talk to other people starting out on the journey to remissions which she began back in 2003.

Shirley said: “Being able to talk about it to someone who has been there makes such a difference.

“I hope when people talk to me they feel more confident and up- beat about what the future holds, and that they feel they can beat it, too. Knowing someone else has been through what you’re going through helps enormously.”

Feedback received from patients Shirley has spoken to has been very positive.

Christine O’Sullivan , from Marie Curie, in Woolton, said: “To me, Shirley is a real inspiration.

“She could have sat back and bemoaned the cards she had been dealt, but she didn’t.

“She has bounced back and does so much to help others; not just via her fantastic fundraising support for Marie Curie Cancer Care, but also by giving others the benefit of her personal experience of what it’s like to go through the treatment; reassuring people currently going through it and acting as a ‘listening ear’ to them.

“When she’s not cheering the Blues at Goodison, she’s cheering her sons on the side lines of local games. A true diamond.”

davidhiggerson