Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What inspired Ciara Mageean to write 'My Greatest Race'?
The Clare Byrne Show on Newstalk with Aviva Insurance.
I'm delighted now to be joined in the studio by Olympian and 2004 1500 metre European champion Ciara McGeehan. You're so welcome. Oh, thank you so much for having me on. Lovely to see you. I feel like I spent the weekend with you because I was reading the book, My Greatest Race. I could not put it down. Is that the sort of feedback that you're getting now?
Yeah, and do you know what? Sometimes I'm like, is that just my family telling me that? I'm like, nobody's going to tell me anything, anything bad. But yeah, people have got in touch and they've let me know how grasping the story was, which is lovely. And it's a testament to Cliona's ability to get... Cliona Foley, who wrote the book with you.
And you talk as well about sitting with her and going through the story, which I'm sure meant that you got to know each other so well over that time.
Cliona's followed my career as a sports journalist.
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Chapter 2: How has Ciara's cancer diagnosis impacted her athletic career?
And I think... It was a really beautiful moment that we came together to write this book. I love that Cliona was there throughout all of that. So she knew the intimacy of the sport, but she probably didn't really necessarily get to know me. And she was wonderful. She was there for me throughout this whole book journey, nearly as a therapist as much as a co-author.
But she did a phenomenal job because everybody tells me my voice comes across well in the story and in the book. And that's like it's a testament to her fantastic writing ability.
And, you know, when I was thinking about you coming in, I was thinking about the fact that it's been it's been quite a week for you because, you know, since the Irish Times piece came out, I know you've been speaking publicly in other interviews as well about your diagnosis. But that's the first time that we really got the detail on it. Yeah. What's that been like for you?
It's been interesting because I feel for the people who are interviewing me because it's very raw for you that you're reading the story and suddenly noise, probably the first time that maybe people are grasping that it's stage four. And I know that early doors, many people probably thought it's an early stage. That's what I hoped myself at my initial diagnosis.
Chapter 3: What role did Cliona Foley play in Ciara's book writing process?
I've been processing it for a long time. So I think people are surprised at how candidly and how open I am with discussing the depths of this chemo journey and this cancer journey. But listen, me and my family have been having the really dark days throughout this past year of processing that. Now, it also has been a little bit raw.
And I'd say actually for me, the biggest thing is whenever people give me feedback on the book or on my interviews and realizing how much my journey and my story is touching others. It's something that I really hoped would be the case. But I probably didn't just fully appreciate just how much it might change. be a positive impact for those that are going through a tough time.
Have you had all of those messages? I'd say you have.
I have. And they've been so lovely. And people are reaching out and telling me that hearing me verbalise how I've been feeling throughout this journey and my concerns for my family. It's been really nice to hear from other cancer patients to let, you know, they just want to let me know that this is something that's
they're going through too and that thank you for verbalising it and like even last night I chatted to Michael Dara was there obviously we had an amazing time on Uncharted and talking to his sister who's been through such a tough journey herself I realised that it's not just people who have cancer that are going to maybe read this book and resonate with it and talking to her about how difficult that is I'm talking about trying to get second opinions and they're obviously there promoting organ donation and
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Chapter 4: What challenges has Ciara faced during her cancer journey?
which is I would strongly urge people because I wouldn't have appreciated that the numbers are dropping, which is insane. And, you know, sharing my story gives me an opportunity to say how tough this has been, but in finding the joy in every day. And it's something that people have taken away from the book because... You know what struck me reading it was just it all happened so fast.
And of course it happens fast. Life happens fast. But it's just like you went from Paris and what happened there to this.
Yeah.
And it's all still so new almost. I mean, you mentioned there we're processing it for the last year. That's still really quick, you know?
Yeah, it's been it's been sometimes I'm like, when am I going to catch a break? Because obviously I went from the highs of my European championship gold to then having to withdraw from the Paris Olympics. And I literally left there and launched myself straight into ankle surgery and the rehab and really focused on being there for L.A., And that was my all-consuming focus.
And then I get dealt the worst news of my life, that I have cancer.
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Chapter 5: How does Ciara find joy amidst her health struggles?
And then I find out it's stage four. And, you know, for anybody's life, that is an absolutely crushing moment. But sprinkled in throughout that, I have lost my... That was the end of my athletics career. I didn't really get to process that completely. I was told that more than likely I won't be able to have a family anymore.
That news alone is tough for anybody, but it's just a small aspect of this big picture because I'm suddenly faced with my own mortality. And I suppose the book gave me an opportunity to actually come to terms with some of those things.
I wouldn't say that they're fully processed and I don't know if they ever will be, but it just gave me an opportunity to revisit some of the things from my athletic career, both the highs and the lows, and begin to process those. It also gave me an opportunity to put down in words things how I was feeling throughout this cancer journey. And that's been something that's been very cathartic for me.
And I do want to emphasize because it seems like I'm really happy and joyful and like I managed to handle this extremely well. I have terrible days where I'm sitting on the sofa and I can't get myself up and really tough days post-chemo, but also just the days where my brain is just like... I'm sad today and I'm just going to say, stay sad today. Yeah.
Chapter 6: What insights does Ciara share about her support system?
And you need that moment. And why did this have to happen to me? Which is, I think, what we would all be doing. There was one thing that you did in the book a couple of times, I think, where you got news from doctors and you kept it really tight. Yeah.
um just your sister and and your partner and you left it at that and i thought how did you do that and then i wondered whether your athletics career helped with that because sometimes when you were injured you didn't want any of the competition or the coaches to know that you were injured so you kept that really tight so was that practice for keeping stuff back from your family when you felt that you needed to
Yeah, I suppose it's maybe a little bit in my nature where I just didn't want to make them sad. And I thought, OK, I'll wait until I can sandwich some good news into the bad news. So it's maybe a little bit of that empathetic side on my part. But I will definitely say there's so many skills and attributes that my athletic career have given me that have really helped on this cancer journey.
The resilience and the ability to take on bad news and say, OK, we're going to focus on the process and what we can do next. I think that's something that I definitely honed during my athletic career. And the ability to deal with bad news is something that everything in life, the more you practice it, the better you get.
But yeah, I was a fairly private person, as open as I always was with my interviews and sharing that. I was a very private person whenever it came to the low points in my athletic career.
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Chapter 7: How does Ciara reflect on her athletic achievements and identity?
I kept that really close. So, yeah, I'd say I was honing that ability. And look, I'm not saying that's a positive trait. I definitely then, whenever the time was right, told my family and told my friends.
You did, of course, but you were I mean, that time over Christmas where you you held back. I mean, I think if it was me, I'd want to tell my mammy and, you know, my daddy straight away. And but you didn't. You said, no, I'm not going to ruin Christmas for them because that's what you felt the news would do. And you kept it to yourself.
I did, I did. Well, I say myself, per Myra, my big sister and Thomas, my fiancé, they had the news too. But I felt like our Christmas was going to be tainted already with the sadness that I'm going through a cancer journey. I just didn't think they needed to be told that my prognosis was maybe two to three years on Christmas Eve.
And I knew, like I had just had some scans, I knew I was waiting for my PET scan and the results of that. And I'm like, look, I'll wait until I have the full picture and all of that to then tell my family.
Chapter 8: What are Ciara's hopes for the future following her diagnosis?
And look, I... I remember telling my mummy about my two to three year prognosis. I was sitting in a coffee shop in Belfast and she'd come up and I was like, OK, now's the time I'm going to have this little moment. And I remember telling my daddy we had brought the dogs out and and we were walking down a lane and I let my daddy know.
And I still get emotional thinking about it because I said, like the doctor said this and he had an inhalation of breath. He's like, don't tell me that. And we just had a hug and I'm going to cry on your radio station today.
I don't blame you because it's just so tough. Do you know what? It's so unfair.
It is. It is. Yeah. And it's one of the I had an appointment with a well-renowned sports psychologist and psychiatrist, Dr. Steve Peters. And it was post Paris and I was processing that, which, you know, seems like insignificant in comparison to the journey that I'm on now. But there was a message that we were going through and it's a very simple one.
And it seems quite harsh if somebody says it to you up straight, but he has a principle on the chimp paradox. I won't get into it, but he was like, there's a part of your brain that thinks the world should be fair and that everything should be fair. And I definitely identify that. And he goes, but the world is not fair and life is not fair.
And so sometimes in those moments, as harsh as that seems sometimes, I remind myself whenever I think why am I going through this I'm like well life's not fair so
I know, and I've heard that from people before, rather than saying, you know, why me? It's a case of saying, why not me? You know, this can happen to anybody, but it doesn't make it any easier, does it? So then you had that prognosis and then you had the results of the PET scan, which were good or more positive, right?
Yeah, I definitely did. I had that prognosis from the physical scans and then the PET scan is the one that shows up activity in tumour cells in your body. And they showed that the tumour cells in my bowel were currently inactive, the tumour cells in my lungs were inactive and that they had greatly reduced in my liver. There was still three patches that were active.
But even if I referred to them glowing on the screen, they were glowing at a much dimmer light. And so it showed that I was responding to the chemotherapy, which was amazing. So I was like, OK, well, this is good because I can maybe pepper in the bad news and give, you know, everybody says you should have that like that little sandwich of good, bad, good. And
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