‘We couldn’t have imagined Relay would still be going to this day’

Ahead of Relay for Life 2025, Ena Barrett, one of organisers of the first ever event, talks of her own personal journey.

By Paddy Walsh

Mention Relay for Life Donegal and among several names that will stand out is that of Ena Barrett who has been with the initiative since the start and continues to be.

Mention the central theme of it and she can all too associate with that also – cancer having entered and disrupted her life on two separate occasions. So when she talks to fellow survivors over the weekend of Relay and at any other time, she knows what they have gone through and shares the fears they had and the devastation of that initial diagnosis.

A native of Falcarragh, life, as Ena says, took her to Cavan and Sligo through work and family.

Employed with the National Irish Bank, she eventually returned to Donegal and bought a house in Newtowncunningham. “It’s a great place to live. You’re central to Letterkenny and Derry and I was covering all of Donegal when I was working.”

Living was a pursuit she was enjoying until that shattering diagnosis in 2007. “I had no symptoms but I was feeling tired and I explained that away because I was working quite hard.”

About to sign a contract for a new job, in the space of half an hour, Ena’s life turned upside down.

At the end of March of that year, she had a mammogram and the following month was given the diagnosis of breast cancer.

Subsequently she underwent surgery. “Now you go in for surgery and come out that day. It was a bit different back then. I was a week in hospital.”

Chemotherapy followed – not a pleasant experience for her. “I reacted very badly to it. It’s different for everybody of course – for instance, I have a friend who was having it at the same time and she sailed through it.”

The side effects for Ena were so aggressive that she was sure she was going to die.

“As I say everybody and every cancer is different and that’s the way it is.”

Despite the negative reactions – she had the chemotherapy every two weeks at Letterkenny Hospital – she has nothing but praise for the oncology team. “They were absolutely fabulous – I can’t say enough about them.”

Ena took some time to recover from her chemo experience and then it was off to St. Luke’s Hospital in Dublin for radiation treatment.

“I would be there from Monday to Friday and stayed in the lodge at the hospital. It was definitely the best part of my cancer treatment. My family didn’t have to worry about me and I was in a safe environment along with people who were on the same journey.”

On the very first day, however, she rebelled against everything, not least her illness and those around her. “I didn’t want to get to know these people, I didn’t want to know their stories. I just didn’t want anything to do with them. I was going to be there for six weeks and I didn’t want to make friends – I just wanted to be left alone.”

A rebellion that lasted until day two when the ice melted. “I did get to know people and we had the best of fun and there were some fabulous characters there.

“We would have music and bingo at night. I made friends there and I’m still friends with them.”

At the time Ena was employed as Area Manager with the National Irish Bank in Donegal. But as she proclaims herself, things change. “I went from being a very career driven person to one who couldn’t care less. Your perspective changes and I decided to retire from banking and took a year out.”

Meanwhile, her brother in Canada told her about the Relay for Life initiative that was raising both funds and awareness there in respect of cancer.

And after a year of planning, and in the meantime, applying for a job with the Irish Cancer Society, Ena, along with Robert O’Connor, who she knew through banking circles, Seamus Devine, and Drew Corry, organised the first Donegal Relay for Life in 2012.

“I got word that I’d got the job the week before that Relay took place,” she recalls.

Daniel O’Donnell joins with a group of carers at last year’s Relay for Life. Photos: Clive Wasson

The committee worked hard to ensure the success of that first event.

“We created something that we couldn’t have imagined would still be going to this day. We had no idea of what it would mean to people.”

That it would and does mean is an event in which survivors and carers and everyone else involved meet to tell their stories and share their own experiences in an environment that is highly emotional but also provides a weekend of fun and laughter. Not forgetting the selfless efforts of volunteers and the singers and musicians who give of their time free to help make it the success it is.

“There’s something special about the whole thing and in particular the Luminaria ceremony with all those candles lit and Donal Kavanagh’s voice booming out over the silence and the sea of purple shirts and everyone showing solidarity with one another.

“And all those moving and emotional stories being shared. And during the night when representatives from the teams are walking around the pitch, you might hear the sound of a ukulele at 3 in the morning.”

For Ena Barrett it’s an event that dominates much of her life now – focusing on an illness that decided devastatingly to revisit her last year. It was 17 years to the day from her first diagnosis when she went for a mammogram on Good Friday and was informed she had it again.

“It was a different cancer from the previous one even though it was the same breast.

“Chemotherapy wasn’t needed and I had no radiation because there was nothing to radiate.”

She was put on a treatment plan but suffered a bad reaction to the initial course of oral medication.

“But treatment plans have come on and in the past couple of weeks, I have started a new one and the oncology team are confident that this will work for me and that I won’t have any reaction.”

She is scheduled to be on the plan for the next five years and with the advances in such treatments there will be the option of another one if it doesn’t prove successful. “It takes time to find the right combination,” Ena points out.

For someone who was invariably at the forefront of Relay for Life, last year’s event brought her on a different and difficult pathway.

“I wasn’t strong enough to be on the site for the full weekend but when I was there the support was always with me.”

Protective arms embraced her in typical Relay for Life fashion. “People were so good. They made sure that I had a rest when I needed it and that I got home. I’m hugely thankful to everyone for their support at the time.”

On the Sunday morning of Relay, at the services broadcast on Highland Radio, Ena would recite the poem ‘An Angel By My Side’.

“I certainly had angels by my side,’ she says.

Cancer isn’t a stranger to her family. Her brother, Aodh passed away in 1979 from the disease at the all too tender age of 19. And three years ago, another brother, Enda, succumbed to it.

“Out of seven of us in the family, five of us had cancer. No different really from lots of families.”

For all who have gone through the journey of cancer and emerged from the other side, Relay for Life has been instrumental in the healing process.

“If you can help someone who is going through cancer and talk about your own story, it can be so beneficial both for you and for them, And at the Relay weekend, a complete stranger can come up to you and put their arm around you.” A comfort blanket like no other.

Ena is grateful for her own involvement in Relay for Life but more so for all those who contribute to it, whether it’s the committee, the entertainers, the survivors, the carers, and the volunteers.

And, she insists, the event is not solely aimed at those who have had cancer. “If you survived heart disease, a stroke, or any other serious illness, you’re more than welcome to come along. The support is there for all. Anybody who has gone through such illnesses have the same fears and concerns that those of us who have gone through cancer have.”

She is also happy that older people can enjoy the event either in person or by the magic of technology.

“My mum, who passed away at the age of 91, used to watch it live and over the weekend, I’d get these phone calls from her saying things like “they’re very good those people on stage” or “who allowed them up there?”

“But it’s great that people of all ages can enjoy Relay from their own homes or wherever.”

And she again reflects back to 1979 and the loss of her 19 year old brother. “Cancer wasn’t talked about then but it is now and Relay has helped to encourage that conversation.

“Cancer is a word but no longer a sentence.”

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