RADIO PRESENTER AND former DailyEdge.ie writer Louise McSharry has been diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma, she revealed today.

The 31 year old talked about her recent diagnosis with Ryan Tubridy on his 2fm show this morning.

“I knew something wasn’t right,” she said of the past few months, during which she was in and out of hospital for tests.

“I had my appendix out in December and I had a little abscess after that. I felt normal for a couple of months. But then I felt strange, I lost my appetite, I stopped getting my period and in bed at night, I’d get really gross, intense sweating.”

After several weeks of tests with appendix specialists, Louise began to suffer with pains in her side that “felt like a very bad stitch”.

She was admitted to hospital two-and-a-half weeks ago where doctors discovered growths on her spleen. They also performed a biopsy on lymph nodes found on her arm.

“The test results were available last Wednesday. I wanted to go on my own to the appointment but [fiancé] Gordon’s mam told him to come.

“You never ask any questions,” he told her when he insisted on the plan.

“The consultant told me pretty straight,” she revealed to Tubridy. “He said, ‘You know we’ve been doing all these tests. We’ve been trying to rule out malignancy and lymphoma. Unfortunately that’s what it is’.

I was physically moved back. There were tears in my eyes. I knew it was cancer but he talked a bit more before he used the word.

Her appointment with the Oncology department was the next day and Louise now faces into six months of chemotherapy.

But, at the appointment, she was still thinking about how to tell people – and when she could change up her look.

Bizarrely, she says, the second thought in her mind (after: ‘How do I tell people?’) was:

I’m obviously going to dye my hair pink now.

She added that she had been keeping her hair bleach-free to try and improve its condition. ”They were the thoughts in my head.”

She also revealed to her fellow presenter that she started joking about the situation automatically.

“Gordon was not impressed… He was not ready for jokes. But we’re well into the black humour now.”

Soon, however, she turned to the task at hand. She explains that the type of cancer she has is treatable and curable.

“I’m very lucky, Hodgkin’s lymphoma is a curable cancer. Most people with cases like me are cured. The vast majority… 80% aim for a cure in the first round of treatment. They are brilliant odds.

Currently, this is just how I feel: I’m going to go do six months of chemo. It’s going to be rough but I’ll be cured and get on with my normal life.

She still plans on still getting married almost exactly one year from now.

“I genuinely have no doubt that I’m going to be fine.”

Louise will be off air for the coming months. Friends and listeners sent well wishes to her over Twitter while listening to the interview this morning. 

Whoops!

We couldn't find this Tweet

All of us at TheJournal.ie, DailyEdge.ie and TheScore.ie would like to add our own best wishes. We’re going to do that, and remind her that she’s awesome, in the form of a song that we know she’ll enjoy.