Fighting Back — Lizanne Kearney on Stage 4 Cancer
Lizanne Kearney is 41 years old, a mother of two, a wife, a fighter — and she will be the first to tell you she is not going anywhere. Four months after the birth of her daughter Lily, Lizanne found a lump. Her mother had died of breast cancer. She knew something wasn’t right. She pushed. She advocated. She fought for her own referral when the system wasn’t moving fast enough — and that decision changed everything. What followed was two years of relentless challenge. Seven weeks of chemotherapy. A severe immunotherapy reaction. A lumpectomy on Halloween. A mastectomy one week later. A phone call at 10pm to tell her the cancer wasn’t gone. Pulmonary clots. A Stage 4 terminal diagnosis. Cancer spreading to her spine, her liver, her bones. A system that repeatedly let her down. A medical card refused five times. And through every single one of those moments — Lizanne got back up. In this episode, Lizanne sits down with Annmarie and Katie and talks with the kind of honesty and warmth that stops you in your tracks. She talks about going trick-or-treating the night after her mastectomy because Luke loves Halloween. About buying Christmas presents the same afternoon she was told she needed another surgery. About missing her children’s birthdays in hospital and being given the most extraordinary party by her neighbours when she came home. About her husband Rob, who has been with her through everything. About her sister Stacey, who sat quietly in the room as this episode was recorded. Lizanne is on maintenance chemotherapy. She is living. She is planning. She is ordering Halloween decorations at 3am and making no apologies for it. Her message is simple: no one is promised tomorrow. So stop saving things for a good day. Wear the clothes. Buy the shoes. Eat the cake. This episode will stay with you. Topics covered: Finding a lump postpartum • advocating for yourself in the Irish healthcare system • chemotherapy and immunotherapy • lumpectomy and mastectomy • Stage 4 metastatic breast cancer diagnosis • financial burden of cancer treatment • the impact on family and young children • the power of community and friendship • living fully with a terminal diagnosis Where Do I Go From Here? is brought to you by Inner Therapy. Find out more at innertherapy.ie Keywords: stage 4 breast cancer Ireland, metastatic cancer podcast, cancer diagnosis story, living with terminal cancer, breast cancer awareness, women’s health Ireland, cancer and motherhood, Lizanne Kearney, Inner Therapy podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.