Connacht Tribune
Easing the emotional obstacles to inner calm
![Carol Kelleher, pictured with her first book Reflections of a Cleaning Lady. Photo: Joe O’Shaughnessy.](https://archive.connachttribune.ie/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/T2-Carol-Kelleher-2.jpg)
Lifestyle – Former teacher reflects on seismic decision to refocus her life as a spiritual healer. She talks to Bernie Ní Fhlatharta
It’s never easy to leave a permanent, pensionable post – but that’s what Carol Kelleher did, more critically at a time when she could least afford it. In hindsight it was for the best; giving her an unexpected opportunity to discover a hidden gift of healing which has opened up a whole new world to her and her family.
The Salthill native believes that being a healer is her true calling and one she would never have discovered if she hadn’t left her job.
Carol had loved her teaching job and held the position of Deputy Principal in a city primary school until she stepped down following a difference of ideologies with new management.
She remained on the teaching staff for a few more years, because she believes she had a vocation and a natural flair for teaching. But she felt she had no option but to resign when matters became intolerable.
This was a decision made at a time when it wasn’t economically viable for her and her husband and their five children to do so – but looking back twelve years later, she has no regrets, only gratitude.
Carol describes in her first book, Reflections of a Cleaning Lady, the angst and financial pressures surrounding that decision but remembers the love and support of her family, especially her husband Peadar.
“I took a risk for sure but I started reading a lot of self-help and spiritual books and I asked for guidance and I noticed a huge energy shift in myself. I started to get this understanding and awareness,” she says.
Around that time Carol took a philosophy course and it seemed that drew her into meditation and self-awareness courses.
She readily admits that meeting Cork-based global mystic and spiritual healer, Ger Lyons, made a huge difference to her life, leading her to becoming a healer who now runs her own Core Cellular Healing workshops.
Carol says she has found a calm in her life, a strength she didn’t know she possessed.
“When I started attending Ger’s workshops, I never thought I would ever be running my own workshops because I hadn’t the confidence and I was very shy. But the more I learned, the more I realised I had to share what I had learned and I started a weekly healing circle here at home.
“I do one-to-one healing and facilitate healing groups of up to 15 people in other venues outside of my own healing room which would be too small.
“Most of us have emotional blockages which stop us from living the lives we should be leading. These can be blockages going back to our childhood or even further.”
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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Connacht Tribune
West has lower cancer survival rates than rest
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Significant state investment is required to address ‘shocking’ inequalities that leave cancer patients in the West at greater risk of succumbing to the disease.
A meeting of Regional Health Forum West heard that survival rates for breast, lung and colorectal cancers than the national average, and with the most deprived quintile of the population, the West’s residents faced poorer outcomes from a cancer diagnosis.
For breast cancer patients, the five-year survival rate was 80% in the West versus 85% nationally; for lung cancer patients it was 16.7% in the west against a 19.5% national survival rate; and in the West’s colorectal cancer patients, there was a 62.6% survival rate where the national average was 63.1%.
These startling statistics were provided in answer to a question from Ballinasloe-based Cllr Evelyn Parsons (Ind) who said it was yet another reminder that cancer treatment infrastructure in the West was in dire need of improvement.
“The situation is pretty stark. In the Western Regional Health Forum area, we have the highest incidence of deprivation and the highest health inequalities because of that – we have the highest incidences of cancer nationally because of that,” said Cllr Parsons, who is also a general practitioner.
In details provided by CEO of Saolta Health Care Group, which operates Galway’s hospitals, it was stated that a number of factors were impacting on patient outcomes.
Get the full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now, or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie. You can also download our Connacht Tribune App from Apple’s App Store or get the Android Version from Google Play.
Connacht Tribune
Galway minors continue to lay waste to all opponents
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Galway 3-18
Cork 1-10
NEW setting; new opposition; new challenge. It made no difference to the Galway minor hurlers as they chalked up a remarkable sixth consecutive double digits championship victory at Semple Stadium on Saturday.
The final scoreline in Thurles may have been a little harsh on Cork, but there was no doubting Galway’s overall superiority in setting up only a second-ever All-Ireland showdown against Clare at the same venue on Sunday week.
Having claimed an historic Leinster title the previous weekend, Galway took a while to get going against the Rebels and also endured their first period in a match in which they were heavily outscored, but still the boys in maroon roll on.
Beating a decent Cork outfit by 14 points sums up how formidable Galway are. No team has managed to lay a glove on them so far, and though Clare might ask them questions other challengers haven’t, they are going to have to find significant improvement on their semi-final win over 14-man Kilkenny to pull off a final upset.
Galway just aren’t winning their matches; they are overpowering the teams which have stood in their way. Their level of consistency is admirable for young players starting off on the inter-county journey, while the team’s temperament appears to be bombproof, no matter what is thrown at them.
Having romped through Leinster, Galway should have been a bit rattled by being only level (0-4 each) after 20 minutes and being a little fortunate not to have been behind; or when Cork stormed out of the blocks at the start of the second half by hitting 1-4 to just a solitary point in reply, but there was never any trace of panic in their ranks.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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Connacht Tribune
Gardaí and IFA issue a joint appeal on summer road safety
![](https://archive.connachttribune.ie/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Teresa-Roche.jpg)
GARDAÍ and the IFA have issued a joint appeal to all road users to take extra care as the silage season gets under way across the country.
Silage harvesting started in many parts of Galway last week – and over the coming month, the sight of tractors and trailers on rural roads will be getting far more frequent.
Inspector Conor Madden, who is in charge of Galway Roads Policing, told the Farming Tribune that a bit of extra care and common-sense from all road users would go a long way towards preventing serious collisions on roads this summer.
“One thing I would ask farmers and contractors to consider is to try and get more experienced drivers working for them.
“Tractors have got faster and bigger – and they are also towing heavy loads of silage – so care and experience are a great help in terms of accident prevention,” Inspector Madden told the Farming Tribune.
He said that tractor drivers should always be aware of traffic building up behind them and to pull in and let these vehicles pass, where it was safe to do so.
“By the same token, other road users should always exercise extra care; drive that bit slower; and ‘pull in’ that bit more, when meeting tractors and heavy machinery.
“We all want to see everyone enjoying a safe summer on our roads – that extra bit of care, and consideration for other roads users can make a huge difference,” said Conor Madden.
He also advised motorists and tractor drivers to be acutely aware of pedestrians and cyclists on the roads during the summer season when more people would be out walking and cycling on the roads.
The IFA has also joined in on the road safety appeal with Galway IFA Farm Family and Social Affairs Chair Teresa Roche asking all road users to exercise that extra bit of care and caution.
“We are renewing our annual appeal for motorists to be on the look out for tractors, trailers and other agricultural machinery exiting from fields and farmyards,” she said.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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