Majella O’Donnell has opened up about her recent health scares, and how she constantly lives in fear that her cancer will return.
The RTÉ star, who is married to country crooner Daniel O’Donnell, bravely battled breast cancer back in 2015.
Although the 57-year-old received the all-clear after receiving chemotherapy, Majella has revealed that she’s had two cancer scares since – and the most recent one was just two weeks ago.
“A couple of weeks back I found a lump in my neck, it was my lymph gland which was swollen. Straight away I thought ‘lymph gland, it’s back.’ It’s scary,” she told the Irish Mirror.
“I went in and had MRIs and a CT and bone scans and blood tests and it was all clear. I just had an infection.
“In the last two years twice I’ve gone to the oncologist and said ‘something’s not right’ and she’s checked me and I’m grand.
“The further I get from my diagnosis, four years now, the more I worry if I feel sick, or if I have a pain in my back for too long straight away I think, ‘the cancer is back.’
“After I had the cancer treatment the first couple of years after it was great, you were over it. But when you’re over it for four years you start to worry. That’s the only thing. I do feel, and it’s a bit of a shame, that I’m looking over my shoulder,” she explained.
Majella recently reached out to Grease star Olivia Newton-John, who is unfortunately battling breast cancer for the second time.
“I’ve met Olivia a few times. I haven’t spoken to her since but I did send her a message. After twenty something years and you get it back again, it’s very disappointing.
“For somebody like me as well it makes me think, ‘it’s always there in the background, is it waiting to come and bite me on the bum again?”
The Daniel and Majella’s B&B Road Trip star also admitted that she worries about her daughter, Siobhan McLennan, who is currently expecting her second child.
“I do worry, my daughter is coming up 30 now so I tell her to regularly check the girls. Be aware and don’t ever think ‘it’s not going to happen to me’ because it can happen to any one of us,” she added.
