Rebecca Duffy

Local woman paying it back to charity close to her heart

A young local woman has found a silver lining in a difficult time by raising funds for the charity that helped her get a wig after she lost her hair undergoing chemotherapy.

21-year-old Rebecca Duffy, originally from Donegal, began to notice some health concerns last October while working as a receptionist.

“I studied law in NUI Galway and then moved here to Athlone last September,” she told the Westmeath Independent.

Rebecca’s parents Avril and Neil moved to Athlone three years ago to open Riverdale House B&B, on the Clonown Road, but Rebecca only moved to the town once she graduated.

“I started working in the Athlone Town Centre. I have asthma, so I was getting breathless and wheezy. I was so tired and felt poorly but I just thought it was a winter flu and I was working over Christmas. It was so hectic so I just put going to the GP on the back burner.”

However, Rebecca’s symptoms progressively got worse, leading her to contacting her GP and spending a week in hospital while tests were carried out

In January Rebecca was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, something which she had no previous knowledge of.

“It’s so easy to miss because the symptoms are fatigue, weight loss, night sweats, things that you overlook. You really never think, especially when you’re young, that they’re going to be a lot more sinister.

“I was always a healthy person; I’ve always liked the gym and eating healthily. It never occurred to me that I could get something like this because you feel a bit invincible. If I had been more aware of lymphoma I might have picked up on it sooner.”

Rebecca started treatment on February 1 and underwent two months of ABVD treatment.

“It’s a general treatment for Hodgkin’s lymphoma but I got a PET scan which showed that it wasn’t working the way we had hoped, so I switched to St James’ Hospital and I started a more intensive chemotherapy treatment. Hopefully it gets the last bit of it now.

“When I first started chemotherapy you get loads of information of all the side-effects you’re going to get, and one of them is hair loss. That was quite difficult to deal with at the start.”

Rebecca went to a wig specialist but found the cost to be quite expensive and there were difficulties in matching her hair style.

Her mother was searching online and came across the Little Princess Trust, a charity that offers free fully-fitted custom wigs to people up to the age of 24. Rebecca soon got in contact with them and started the process of getting her own.

“They were so lovely,” Rebecca says. “They didn’t look for proof of anything in relation to my diagnosis. I arranged to meet with a stylist in Waterford and she helped me fit it and showed me how to wear it.

“It was a really lovely experience both emotionally and physically. It took away the financial burden and pressure of covering the cost of a wig at what is already a financially difficult time.”

Now Rebecca is paying it back to the charity by fundraising for the Little Princess Trust for her birthday in a few weeks’ time.

“All I wanted to do was cover the cost of a wig for someone else. It’s about €600 from start to finish to fit a wig for someone, so that was the goal. Now we’re up to €6,500, so I think we can cover about ten wigs now! It’s so heart-warming to me that I’ve contributed to somebody else’s journey.

“It’s mostly just friends and family who have donated, and a lot of people that I haven’t even met before as well. It’s almost as if people were waiting to see how they could support me.

“It’s been such an eye opener for me to see kindness in the world through donations or from messages and cards that have been sent to me. It’s been a silver lining in a difficult time.”

Rebecca also completed a 5km, which she says she took nice and slow.

“It’s nice to get out in the fresh air and have some sort of normality. With Covid I can’t really go into town at all or do much with my days so this gets me out of the house.”

Looking to the future, Rebecca has ambitions to travel when she can.

“I would love to go travelling to Australia. I’ve learned that there’s no time like the present and there’s always going to be an excuse to not do something so you may as well grab on to any opportunities when they come.

“Life is so precious but it’s fleeting so I’m going to grab it with two hands.”