There is life after cancer

Julie Drysdale-Gourley is flying high after marrying her partner in a romantic spur of the moment ceremony in Belfast in April.

After six years with Ian Gourley, the happy couple said ‘I do’ in front of a select number of family and friends at Belfast City Hall on April 24.

Julie is still basking in the memory of the day – made even more special given the fact she has survived cancer on two occasions.

The medical receptionist, who lives in Newtownards, was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 1999 and again in 2022.

While she is now on a maintenance drug, 60-year-old Julie is determined to start living life to the full – a decision that has helped her shed one stone with the help of Slimming World at Ards Bowling Club.

She was one of 46 members of the organisation who took part in the recent Cancer Research UK Race for Life event at Stormont, taking the title of Top Fundraising Group of the Year after collecting £5,000.

“I was 35 when I was diagnosed the first time and it happened because I felt a small lump and it turned out to be quite an aggressive breast cancer,” says Julie.

“How did I feel when I found out I had cancer? I didn’t believe it, to be honest. I was working in a GP surgery at the time and I took the morning off work to go to the hospital.

“I went along with my sister and they did all the tests, the biopsy, the mammogram, the ultrasound. We sat waiting and waiting and waiting and it got to about 11.30am and I started to wonder whether they had forgotten about me.

“I looked around and there were very few people left so alarm bells started to go off in my head. Then a Macmillan nurse took me into a room and sat me down. It was me, the doctor, the nurse and my sister and the doctor told me, ‘I’m afraid there’s no way to tell you you have breast cancer’. I just broke down into tears.”

Julie was then faced with breaking the news to her family before she underwent a lumpectomy, chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

She found the chemotherapy, in particular, a very difficult experience.

“It wasn’t nice at all,” she says.

“The hair loss was one of the hardest things for me. Every time I walked up to the Ulster Hospital and across the bridge to the cancer unit, I really didn’t want to be there.

“It was a real emotional rollercoaster. It turned out there was nothing in my lymph nodes which was positive and it was amazing when the treatment finished and I was told the cancer was all gone, I was in remission and to get on with my life.”

That’s exactly what Julie did – until she was dealt a devastating blow 25 years later when a routine mammogram detected a lump in her breast.

“When I found out, to be honest, I didn’t think there was a future for me,” she says.

“I thought, ‘this is it’. I had already made up my mind that unless they could promise me a really good outcome, I wasn’t going to put myself through chemotherapy again.

“If they’d said it would only give me another few months, I wouldn’t have done it because I believe in quality of life rather than quantity, but they told me I should get another 24 years with the treatment.

“They can’t make any guarantees, of course. I could go out and be hit by a bus.”

This time, Julie had a full mastectomy and was lucky to survive after suffering near fatal bleeding following the surgery. She was further traumatised as she lost her niece to cancer less than a week after her operation.

It is little wonder she struggled to move on.

Julie says she joined Slimming World but says she initially only attended the meetings for company.

“Until I got my head that I was going to survive, that I’m going to be here for another 20 years or more, I thought it didn’t matter if I was going to be 20 stone,” she explains.

“Then something clicked in my head this year and I’ve lost more than a stone. I realised that if I’m going to live, I’m going to be as healthy as I can. I decided I was going to enjoy life, I was going to go on holidays with friends. You only get one life.

“I have to say the members at Slimming World are like family, I have made friends for life.

“Ian and I have had such a difficult time, he had a heart attack, he lost two brothers during Covid, my sister was diagnosed with dementia. I feel like we have been through everything you can go through but we’re here at the end of it.

“When we met, I wasn’t looking for anyone and I wasn’t interested as my marriage had broken up but I said we could be friends. Thankfully Ian persisted and he got me.

“I realised he was really nice and he made me happy. I was so fed up with wasters, but he was a really good guy.

“It’s been tough, when someone tells you that you have cancer, it’s the worst feeling in the world, but I’m proof there is life after cancer.”

Janice Boal, who runs the Ards Bowling Club Slimming World of which Julie is a member and which clinched the top fundraising group award, also took part in the Race for Life event.

As well as being inspired by Julie and her experience of cancer, she wanted to support the work being done by CRUK for her friend, 54-year-old Mark Boyd, as he continued treatment for breast cancer.

“He is just the nicest person that anyone could ever meet,” says Janice, who is originally from Portrush but who now lives in Newtownards.

“He had a pain in his shoulder and his personal trainer advised him to go to the GP. It turned out he had breast cancer which is very rare for a man.

“He had surgery and was giving a talk at our church to raise awareness of cancer. The worst thing was he had it again and he didn’t know.

“He started to get a pain in his back and when he went to his doctor, he found out the cancer was in his bones. It has also progressed to his liver.

“He’s been in the City Hospital as he has had infection after infection after infection, so his chemotherapy has had to stop. We’re just praying the infection is brought under control and he can start chemotherapy again.

“I spoke to him before doing Race for Life and he was telling me he hopes to be able to join me next year. You hear of people being diagnosed with cancer which is awful, but it’s really horrible when it’s someone close to you.”