 studio and expected faces are staring at me here so we'd better push on and it's because it's to do with a well an unusual one it's a couple of women who are going to jump out of a plane next month and I'm joined by a doctor who's actually encouraging them. You know, pull in there a little bit closer and I'll just adjust this. Put up the mics and just to explain what's happening it's it's two local women they're going to skydive a native cancer care West and they are Shnid boys and Gronya Duffy and they work for a cancer care West here in Netta Kenny and is to raise funds for the Center and also senior clinical psychologist Dr. John Donahoe is with us as well. So you're all more than welcome. Thanks John. Let's start actually John with you about the service and and what it is not people be familiar with the name not unless you've had cancer and and have a cause to use the center might not be familiar with what you do there. Yeah well cancer care West opens at doors in 2017 in fact and the it's it's a sister organization or parent organization is actually based in Galway and there's a support center there as well as what's called a lodge or Innish Even Center and Innish Even is a residential center for Northwest Ireland patients who are undergoing radiotherapy at NUIG so they have a place to stay over the course of four or five or even six week period of time so that's the residential center that was that's the that was sort of the very first expression of cancer care West and then alongside that came the support center a few years later that's our based in based in Galway and they offer services like counseling information from specialist nurses reflexology complementary therapies and then in 2007 and the we started here that the cancer care West in in letter Kenny and we're very similar to the support center in Galway in that we offer specialist counseling support for people information advice and as well as that we do we have an MLD therapist which is which is Sinead's range of expertise and we have a reflexology which is gronies range of expertise so all of these services are free so no patient actually pays any money whatsoever and they're and therefore for any patient or loved one in fact that has gone through or is going through cancer so we're very keen to spread our spread sort of news of our our existence and awareness as far and wide as it's possible which you know we're delighted to kind of take some space on your program today just to showcase ourselves and tell people about what we what we do and what we offer glad to help and it's not too often that we have some people in who are going to jump out of an airplane so it's not it's it's all good. Sinead, Ron, Yenny, how you obviously I work at the center here in Etta Kenny and have decided to raise not just as John says awareness about the center but also some funds for the center hence this this parachute jump. I was going to say airplane jump but you'll have parachutes won't you? How do you how do you practice for a parachute jump? I don't think we do which you'll open the morning and hopefully they'll go through the process with us and say if you feel there isn't way to. Whereabouts has it been done? I'd say Derry, Garvey, is it? I'd say Corian just to you. Corian. Which is great because that's you know not too far away. There's no location down in the midlands. So Norfley, yeah. Yeah, which is a bit of a schlep. But near at hand, which is great. And I was going to say, you know, first time for you to do this. Yes, first time. Yes. Have you even done anything remotely similar, like even a bungee jump? No, I think the closest I came to it was the simulator and we are vertical and Belfast. Oh, right. That's about the closest I came to it. So I'm hoping that will prepare me right, right. And looking forward to it would probably be the wrong way to describe it. As times getting closer, where the nears are kicking in a little bit, but not so bad at the moment. But OK, OK, the date for it. First of July, first Saturday, the first of July. OK. And how has the how has the fundraising been going? If one reason is going well. Going good. We're hoping I maybe after today things will snowball and get and pick up a bit. But but yeah, there's over I think a thousand or something in it already. So we're getting there, we're getting there. So anything every little bit helps like so. Just going back to the centre and your roles are explained to me. What what it is that both of you do, Sinead? So I work as the lymphedema clinician at the centre. And my role is really to work with those that have been diagnosed with lymphedema post cancer surgeries, such as like patients that have gone through, say, maybe having the lymph nodes removed or have had radium or chemotherapy, it obstructs them. They the flow of the pathway for the lymphatic system. As a result of that, then they're left with lymphedema, which is a chronic swelling. Once they're diagnosed with it, it's lifelong management. There it cannot be reversed. And I mainly my role is to prevent it from progressing to different stages because it goes from stage zero to stage four. So I treat treat patients weekly for that and help them best manage this best again. Through manual and faulty drainage, it's by hand. And then I have them fitted for governments and compression where to help help them maintain at the level that I that I get them to. A vital tough service, a tough role, vital service. Absolutely. Absolutely. We're saying, though, as well, that Sinead is one of the few Doctor Vodder trained therapists, actually. There's not many of them even in the county. Yeah, there's two of us. And we have we have one of them. So what that means is that, in addition to the bandaging that normally would be offered, there's a massage-based therapy. It's a touch-based therapy. Skin technique, really. Yes, more of a skin technique, more than a massage. Yeah. OK. So so yeah, there's only only two of us in the county. And this would this would affect maybe 30 percent or so. The rough estimates are about 30 percent. So about three every 10 patients who roughly would go go through sort of severe treatments like chemotherapy or surgery or a combination of those. That's the kind of figures we were talking about. Because some of the lymph nodes can be affected by so many people who are getting cancer. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. OK. Grania. So my role as the clinical reflexologist in the centre is I'm able to look after patients pre and post treatment. So I would help treatment, help patients with sleep issues, anxiousness and look after symptoms as well. So I'm kind of supporting them through the cycle of treatment, post and pre treatment. So I can look after them the whole way through their treatment. So they would I would help a reflexology as a technique on the feet where your stimulated and reflex points on the feet. So it'll help with the legs of nausea, insomnia, sleep disorders, constipation. And so help on them, you know, through recovery as well. So the patients would get great benefits from it. There's there's so many strands to cancer care. And it's just when I'm chatting to you that, you know, the people are made aware of all that entails. And often, unless you're close, unless you're directly affected or you're a close family member, you don't get to hear about these things. It's just, you know, yeah, I'm having treatment or, you know, you know, Wendy, you get the all clear and things. It's the main new day that we don't. I think I think the lovely thing about Cancer Care West is that it does tell us quite nicely with HSC services. And what I mean by that is that what we find is, is that a lot of patients experience the most distress per se in the aftermath of treatment. Now, why is that? Well, during treatment, your horizon of attention is actually to the next the next treatment. So it's actually quite, quite narrow. It's either one week or two weeks or even three weeks. And that three weeks is about just getting to the next treatment. And you're just sort of held by the sort of medical team as well. You get to know the nurses, the fantastic people looking after you, especially here at the Kenny people speak very highly of them. And then the nurses and the doctors and you get to know other patients as well. And that lasts for months and months. And then you come out of that and a lot of people kind of talk about this idea of free fall after that. They have so you've got less contact with that medical team. And so things begin to sort of become more difficult. And then you're subject to things like this, the sort of lymphatic problems and your subject to things like maybe the anxiety, which is exactly where kind of Cancer Care West kind of comes in, because it where the HSC technically leaves off. That's where we're sort of poised to kind of step in. And that's where when people would feel most sort of adrift. So I would appeal to sort of listeners out there that are potentially not heard of us or know of cancer patients in their in their family or extended sort of social network, that if they know that there are people that they're struggling in the aftermath of treatment, particularly that they've got people like Gronj and Shanaith here myself to try and kind of lend a hand really. So the idea is that no one goes through this thing alone. So that's that's pretty much our pitch to be fair. So and we have quite a specialist, we especially kind of people that are able to to offer very sort of relevant services as brilliant to have it here in Nerekenne and free. It's that you don't put your hand in your pocket. So, you know, and the thing as well is that not only for coming in face to face, in my case, because I'm the psychologist, I offer remote services so that if somebody is saying up and in the show and or there is down far as any goal, town itself, we offer sort of video based conferencing as well as as well as telephone as well as face to face. So what we've tried to do is to calibrate as much as we possibly could to the specific needs of this of this kind of of the Northwest really. So, yeah, that's it. And after the weekend that we have with really for life, cancer services brought into focus. It was it was a brilliant weekend. Just chatting with Donal before the he ended. Donal was kind of front and centre for a lot of it. But again, focusing our hearts and minds for those that have received care and are continuing to receive care. And then, you know, tomorrow the day after, there'll be people getting diagnosis and and, you know, and start starting the journey as well. Yeah. Yeah. OK, back to the jump and. So is it a tandem jump? It is. I hope so. Oh, you're attached to somebody. If you get where they're where the pole cord is, they'll do it for you. I hope so. Yeah. OK. I wouldn't be great if you got weather like this. Absolutely. I was hoping, I know, please go on. The challenge will be actually to just because you'll be probably jumping out with your eyes closed. The chance is going to be to appreciate it when you when you get out there. But it's not in your you may as well as it is not in your hands. So just open your eyes and it's going to be recorded as well. Oh, we can we can really love the moment as many times as we want then. All right. No big, mad shouts or anything. There may be a few edited, but you don't know. Well, OK, it's on the first July and and you're doing it for a cancer care West and there's a GoFundMe page. There is. Yeah. I don't eat. I don't eat. I don't eat. I don't eat. It's in Cancer Care West Facebook page and we actually might get it uploaded through here as well, maybe after today, if that's possible. Yeah, double in the girls. OK. Well, well done. The best luck to both of you. Great thing to do. Not sure if I could do it. And thanks to all three of you for coming in and having a chat with us today. Thanks for having us, thank you so much.