Super models and cancer survivors at the Survive + Thrive Fashion Show, October 2014

The Marie Keating Foundation launches free workshop to help cancer survivors ‘Survive and Thrive’

Free 6-week course to help cancer survivors adapt to the “new normal”

Dublin, 8 January 2015– The Marie Keating Foundation has launched a new survivorship workshop for people recovering from cancer. Called Survive + Thrive, the workshop will take place over six weeks and includes advice from experts on issues that cancer survivors often face including coping with emotions, managing stress and fatigue and changing nutritional needs. The first course is for women who have survived any type of cancer, and will be held in the Aishling Hotel, Dublin 8, from 7-9pm, every Tuesday between 3 February and 10 March 2015. The course is free to attend but places are limited and registration is essential. For further application details, please contact Angela Egan, the Marie Keating Foundation, on 01 628 3726 or email info@mariekeating.ie.

A course for men who have survived cancer will be held later in 2015 and further courses will be rolled out nationwide during the year.

Ursula Courtney, a cancer support expert and oncology nurse, is leading the Marie Keating Foundation Survive + Thrive workshop. Speaking at the launch, she said, “Thankfully, more and more people are surviving cancer. However, this does present new challenges as survivors have to learn to cope with the ‘new normal.’ A person can go from being sick and cared for by a team of doctors, nurses and family members to suddenly being given the all clear and expected to ‘get on with it.’ This can be a big adjustment and survivors and the cancer community needs to come together to not only help each other survive but also to thrive. That is what this new course is here to do.”

Helen Forristal, Director of Nursing Services, Marie Keating Foundation, said, “The Marie Keating Foundation Survive + Thrive Workshop aims to explore ways of adapting to life changes after cancer treatment. Just as cancer can affect your physical health, it can also affect your emotional health and that can be just as difficult to recover from. Each person will have a different experience of cancer and respond to feelings differently but we can all use similar coping strategies to help ourselves to recover. The Marie Keating Foundation hopes that by bringing survivors together that we can create a community of people that will support each other through the course and beyond.”