WHEN Co Down woman Pat Shields came round in the recovery room of Belfast City Hospital following surgery to remove a lump from her breast, she was tearful. One of the nurses asked her why she'd been crying and the Seaforde mum-of-three attempted to explain, in her rather hazy state of mind, that she had been dreaming about crossing a finish line.
In a sense her dream was a metaphor; the lumpectomy marking the start of her fightback against a breast cancer diagnosis in 2015 and the finishing line representing the end of her treatment.
But for Pat, a keen runner who had already clocked up four marathons, it was also a prophecy of what was to come – taking part in and completing the London Marathon, cheered on by her loved ones.
“I'd been due to do the London Marathon in 2016 after getting my 'Good For Age' time in the Dublin Marathon in 2014; three hours, 58 minutes, but after my cancer diagnosis, I wasn't able to,” says Pat, a civil servant in the Department for Infrastructure.
“Following the lumpectomy I woke up in the recovery room and I'd been crying. The nurse asked me what was wrong and I told her I could see myself running over the finish line and I was crying because it was such a huge achievement.
“In 2017, after my treatment, I got to run the London Marathon to raise money for Cancer Research. I was determined to do it. My family was there to support me and although I was exhausted, I was so happy.
“It was something I didn't think I'd be able to do when I took ill, but you go back to who you are after treatment. I view my illness now as just a blip in my chapter.”
Pat came late to running, taking it up seriously as a sport when she was 49. Growing up on a farm near Downpatrick, she was involved in physical work and, as a result, kept herself fit. She did enjoy cross-country running back then; setting her own routes across the fields, making the most of the fresh air. But when she settled down and had her three children, Mark, Anna and Jon, domesticity took over and the running stopped.
When her marriage broke down in her late 40s, Pat decided to do something that brought back happy memories for her and started running again.
“I used to just take off and run for two miles around the fields on my own when I was young,” she recalls. “There was such a sense of freedom in that and I loved being outdoors, in the fresh air.
“After my marriage ended, I thought back to a time in my life when I'd been happiest and that's when I decided to take up running again.”
Pat joined Murlough Athletics Club in Dundrum, which was holding a recruitment drive at the time. The club was offering a six-week programme for beginners, three times a week. Pat went along and fell in love all over again with running, building up gradually to being able to run three miles. When she joined Murlough AC, it had around 60 members. Now it boasts 200.
At around the same time, Pat made several visits to her doctor about a pea-sized lump on her breast which she'd had since the birth of her son Mark and which was causing her some concern. A couple of mammograms set her mind at rest. But when she discovered a cyst on her breast, she decided to get that checked too, just to be on the safe side.
“My daughter Anna rang me that day to say 'let's go for lunch', so she ended up coming with me to the hospital,” says Pat. “I wasn't too concerned; it was just a routine mammogram and the doctors had told me it was just a cyst.
“Even when I had to have a biopsy, I still felt OK. Then I was called down a corridor and there were several people there; a cancer care nurse, the consultant and a trainee doctor. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. The pea-sized lump which had been there for years was cancerous, not the cyst.
“I was at my fittest. I was running marathons. I just couldn't take it in. It was devastating news. Up until that point, I'd felt younger, healthier, fitter, than I had in ages. That word cancer certainly stops you in your tracks.”
Pat underwent surgery in May 2015 to remove the lump from her breast and a lymph node was also removed. Her chemotherapy started in July; six cycles of treatment over 18 weeks. But ever the runner, Pat tackled the chemo like a marathon plan.
“It was really tough going,” she says. “Just like marathon training, I had good days and bad. I treated the chemo like a marathon plan, with focus, endurance and commitment and knew there would be a finish line in sight. I just had to keep moving to get there.”
In January 2016 Pat completed her radiotherapy and was given the all clear in March. She returned to running, taking it a slower pace and supported by her fellow club members. The day she crossed the finish line in London, to raise money for research into cancer, was one she'll never forget – quite literally, a dream come true.
Pat continues to run three times a week and is now back to full fitness. And her courage has since inspired her three grown-up children to take up running too. Anna (27), who only started running last year, just recently completed her first ever marathon in Dublin, alongside her mum. Pat is currently training for the Paris Marathon in April and intends to run the London one again.
“Running a marathon, you go through a rollercoaster of emotions,” says Pat. “It's one of the hardest things you can, to take on a marathon. Those last few miles really stretch you to the limit and you really have to push through.
“That's what helped me with my cancer battle. I stayed focused and battled on to get through. I'm lucky that I went to see about the cyst and that I got diagnosed pretty quickly. But I definitely believe being a runner helped me too.”
