Aine Lawlor brings viewers on a personal journey

TV Watch with Bernie Ni Fhlatharta

Many know Aine Lawlor’s voice on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland but not many would have known what she looks like. They certainly do now after her two-part documentary about her cancer experience aired on RTÉ over the past two weeks.

And they know what an MRI of her breasts look like and they have seen her in surgery while she was getting her ovaries removed as a precautionary measure because of the type of cancer she had, and because she was third generation in her family to have breast cancer. Her mother died of it when she was just in her late forties.

Aine Lawlor: Facing Cancer got a great response, as most health issues do, though there were a few detractors (most likely they were uncomfortable with the subject) who didn’t think a cancer survivor, especially a household name should have been involving herself in such a project.

But I say the opposite. I say, fair play to her for sharing her own experience to comfort others. I imagine that it is not easy to go through cancer treatment, process the whole thing and then not only go back to work but revisit it as a journalist.

The first programme told her story in a way that was not self-indulgent but informative and warm.

She asked the right questions about diagnosis, treatment and the availability of drugs because they were relevant to her, and if they were relevant to her, they were to others too.

Yes, she got to sit down with her consultants and view and discuss her MRI scans but she got to do this as a journalist, not a patient. She hadn’t seen her scans until she started filming.

Anyone who shares a life changing event, such as getting cancer, and beating it hopefully, in a bid to inform others, is extremely generous.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Sentinel.