Cancer Won’t Be Sarah Dineen’s Legacy
Donation protected
Our time is precious, unfortunately, it’s something we only learn when it's taken away too fast.
On Friday, the 18th of November, Sarah Dineen went into the CUH A&E with a pain in her left lung, under the impression it was just an ordinary infection. Sarah was fit and seemingly healthy, all her vitals were fine and she didn't show too much distress. Doctors suspected it was a pulled muscle. In the early hours of Saturday morning, X-ray’s showed some abnormalities, which lead to Sarah undergoing a few CT scans. Doctors found some masses within her chest as well as swollen lymph nodes. The doctors mentioned that Cancer was a possibility but they needed to further investigate. Cancer was the last thing Sarah believed it could be, and definitely not the answer she would have ever of expected at age 29.
On Saturday, the 19th of November, Sarah was admitted to CUH and was given every test possible to get to the root of the problem. She had an endoscopy on the lungs, different types of CT scans, MRI's, biopsy’s of different parts of the body, PET scans, endoscopy on the stomach and blood tests which all confirmed it was unfortunately cancer. The tumour in the stomach was the primary source of the cancer.
On Sunday, the 4th of December, Professor Derek Power, the gastroenterologist, shook Sarah’s world and broke her heart when he told her the worst news possible. The cancer Sarah had was a very aggressive cancer and there had been a great spread. She was at Stage 4, and it was incurable. Like Sarah usually does, she carried on, stayed strong and planned to make the most of the time she was going to have. All while being there to support and protect her children from the truth they would eventually have to face. The time Sarah was given at this point was 10 short months and the plan was to get home chemotherapy so she could cherish some much needed quality time with her children.
On Friday, the 9th of December, Sarah got one intensive round of radiation where they did 5 sessions in one of radiotherapy to stop an internal bleed. Sarah was left home on the 11th of December to be with her children and to figure out how to tell her kids about the Cancer and the chemotherapy treatment that she will be starting. Question is how do you tell innocent children that there Mam is not always going to be there. She wanted to prepare them for what they were about to witness her go through and how it was not going to be easy to for them to understand or watch. Chemo started a week later on Monday the 19th.
Unfortunately, Sarah ended up in the Mercy A&E on Tuesday, the 20th of December. Her high temperature and extreme struggle to breathe, caused her heart rate to increase by double her average at a resting state. This meant only one thing, something was wrong and Sarah had to be put into Isolation because she caught the influenza A.
The Team of doctors met Sarah and took more X-rays and scans on Wednesday, the 21st of December. The heart was under to much pressure to support the other vital organs, such as the lungs. The Cancer had spread much faster and more aggressively than ever anticipated, which could only imply that the time she had been given was also being impacted.
On Thursday, the 22nd Dec 2022, Sarah was told that she would have two weeks to live. Almost exactly 4 weeks after her suspected pulled muscle and that the chances of Sarah’s body being able to undergo or withstand more chemotherapy was extremely unlikely. Sarah was advised to go to Marymount Hospice for palliative care, end of life pain management. The gut wrenching words no healthy 29 year old mother, who had no symptoms of anything 5 weeks previously, wants to hear. Sarah was strongly advised from a medical position not to go home. However, Sarah made the decision to go home and spend her last Christmas with just her children in isolation. She thought shutting the world out and devoting her Christmas to the kids would be best for them in the long run. She needed to make it a memorable and significant one, especially knowing it will be the last so the kids have memories that will last forever.
Sarah is now in Marymount Hospice and although it is never a place any healthy mother thinks she will end up at 29 for end of life care, Sarah has expressed how grateful she is for being able to be in a place that show so much kindness and empathy. They really have made so many things possible that Sarah thought wouldn't be. Sarah would love to be able to leave money to the hospice so that other families can continue to receive the same dignity she has, love and support.
The most important thing in the world to Sarah right now is protecting her children, so we'd ask that you all respect their privacy and their space as they all try to work through this difficult time.
Background on Sarah Dineen.
Sarah is a strong and caring person who has fought her whole life and overcome so many obstacles to be the women she is today. She’s a 29 year old mother of two beautiful girls Ali (9) and Keela (7) Sarah, and also fosters her nephew (4).
Sarah lost both her parents at a young age, and was only 9 years old when her world was shifted and had to move to a whole new country to live with her grandparents.
Sarah has faced adversity her whole life but was determined to break the cycle that had consumed her for so long. She refused to let her childhood define her and aimed to make sure the generational trauma would never reach her own children. She always wanted her children’s lives to be different. She always wanted them to have every opportunity that life could offer, no matter how much she had to work for them to get it. Sarah always prided herself on living in the moment and opening up her children's minds by living through experience and teaching them about all the world has to offer along the way. Her favourite thing to do was bring her children on adventures to different places all over Ireland and beyond. Her motto was "How will they know they will or won't like it if they haven't tried it”.
Sarah always appreciated the vulnerable, tough situations of children within the care system, and her empathic nature always encouraged her to help and support people in these situations. This led Sarah to go back to college and do a social care course in CIT as a mature student. Sarah only started education herself as a child around the age of 9. She then worked in roles to support families in the community after college. Sarah has always been an inspiration and a very valuable asset to her community. Anyone that has had the pleasure and privilege to know Sarah, knows how much of a extraordinary human she is and always will be. The true definition of a selfless person with a heart of gold.
Sarah’s biggest goal was for her children to not feel pain and hurt or have to live the life she did. she wanted them to live a life of innocence, where they weren’t forced to grow up before their time and have a childhood that she never got to have. Sarah prided herself on making sure she was her true self for her children, she lived every experience through them and she wants to continue to do that.
This go fund me was set up to help with Sarah’s funeral costs and maybe a little fund to support the girls to go to college or even just to continue the life lessons she has been giving them by way of travel and explorations, which she would have done is she was able to.
We appreciate your donations and would like to thank you for taking the time to read through this short story, from the bottom of our hearts, thank you.
On Friday, the 18th of November, Sarah Dineen went into the CUH A&E with a pain in her left lung, under the impression it was just an ordinary infection. Sarah was fit and seemingly healthy, all her vitals were fine and she didn't show too much distress. Doctors suspected it was a pulled muscle. In the early hours of Saturday morning, X-ray’s showed some abnormalities, which lead to Sarah undergoing a few CT scans. Doctors found some masses within her chest as well as swollen lymph nodes. The doctors mentioned that Cancer was a possibility but they needed to further investigate. Cancer was the last thing Sarah believed it could be, and definitely not the answer she would have ever of expected at age 29.
On Saturday, the 19th of November, Sarah was admitted to CUH and was given every test possible to get to the root of the problem. She had an endoscopy on the lungs, different types of CT scans, MRI's, biopsy’s of different parts of the body, PET scans, endoscopy on the stomach and blood tests which all confirmed it was unfortunately cancer. The tumour in the stomach was the primary source of the cancer.
On Sunday, the 4th of December, Professor Derek Power, the gastroenterologist, shook Sarah’s world and broke her heart when he told her the worst news possible. The cancer Sarah had was a very aggressive cancer and there had been a great spread. She was at Stage 4, and it was incurable. Like Sarah usually does, she carried on, stayed strong and planned to make the most of the time she was going to have. All while being there to support and protect her children from the truth they would eventually have to face. The time Sarah was given at this point was 10 short months and the plan was to get home chemotherapy so she could cherish some much needed quality time with her children.
On Friday, the 9th of December, Sarah got one intensive round of radiation where they did 5 sessions in one of radiotherapy to stop an internal bleed. Sarah was left home on the 11th of December to be with her children and to figure out how to tell her kids about the Cancer and the chemotherapy treatment that she will be starting. Question is how do you tell innocent children that there Mam is not always going to be there. She wanted to prepare them for what they were about to witness her go through and how it was not going to be easy to for them to understand or watch. Chemo started a week later on Monday the 19th.
Unfortunately, Sarah ended up in the Mercy A&E on Tuesday, the 20th of December. Her high temperature and extreme struggle to breathe, caused her heart rate to increase by double her average at a resting state. This meant only one thing, something was wrong and Sarah had to be put into Isolation because she caught the influenza A.
The Team of doctors met Sarah and took more X-rays and scans on Wednesday, the 21st of December. The heart was under to much pressure to support the other vital organs, such as the lungs. The Cancer had spread much faster and more aggressively than ever anticipated, which could only imply that the time she had been given was also being impacted.
On Thursday, the 22nd Dec 2022, Sarah was told that she would have two weeks to live. Almost exactly 4 weeks after her suspected pulled muscle and that the chances of Sarah’s body being able to undergo or withstand more chemotherapy was extremely unlikely. Sarah was advised to go to Marymount Hospice for palliative care, end of life pain management. The gut wrenching words no healthy 29 year old mother, who had no symptoms of anything 5 weeks previously, wants to hear. Sarah was strongly advised from a medical position not to go home. However, Sarah made the decision to go home and spend her last Christmas with just her children in isolation. She thought shutting the world out and devoting her Christmas to the kids would be best for them in the long run. She needed to make it a memorable and significant one, especially knowing it will be the last so the kids have memories that will last forever.
Sarah is now in Marymount Hospice and although it is never a place any healthy mother thinks she will end up at 29 for end of life care, Sarah has expressed how grateful she is for being able to be in a place that show so much kindness and empathy. They really have made so many things possible that Sarah thought wouldn't be. Sarah would love to be able to leave money to the hospice so that other families can continue to receive the same dignity she has, love and support.
The most important thing in the world to Sarah right now is protecting her children, so we'd ask that you all respect their privacy and their space as they all try to work through this difficult time.
Background on Sarah Dineen.
Sarah is a strong and caring person who has fought her whole life and overcome so many obstacles to be the women she is today. She’s a 29 year old mother of two beautiful girls Ali (9) and Keela (7) Sarah, and also fosters her nephew (4).
Sarah lost both her parents at a young age, and was only 9 years old when her world was shifted and had to move to a whole new country to live with her grandparents.
Sarah has faced adversity her whole life but was determined to break the cycle that had consumed her for so long. She refused to let her childhood define her and aimed to make sure the generational trauma would never reach her own children. She always wanted her children’s lives to be different. She always wanted them to have every opportunity that life could offer, no matter how much she had to work for them to get it. Sarah always prided herself on living in the moment and opening up her children's minds by living through experience and teaching them about all the world has to offer along the way. Her favourite thing to do was bring her children on adventures to different places all over Ireland and beyond. Her motto was "How will they know they will or won't like it if they haven't tried it”.
Sarah always appreciated the vulnerable, tough situations of children within the care system, and her empathic nature always encouraged her to help and support people in these situations. This led Sarah to go back to college and do a social care course in CIT as a mature student. Sarah only started education herself as a child around the age of 9. She then worked in roles to support families in the community after college. Sarah has always been an inspiration and a very valuable asset to her community. Anyone that has had the pleasure and privilege to know Sarah, knows how much of a extraordinary human she is and always will be. The true definition of a selfless person with a heart of gold.
Sarah’s biggest goal was for her children to not feel pain and hurt or have to live the life she did. she wanted them to live a life of innocence, where they weren’t forced to grow up before their time and have a childhood that she never got to have. Sarah prided herself on making sure she was her true self for her children, she lived every experience through them and she wants to continue to do that.
This go fund me was set up to help with Sarah’s funeral costs and maybe a little fund to support the girls to go to college or even just to continue the life lessons she has been giving them by way of travel and explorations, which she would have done is she was able to.
We appreciate your donations and would like to thank you for taking the time to read through this short story, from the bottom of our hearts, thank you.
Organiser and beneficiary
Rebecca Shortland
Organiser
Sarah Dineen
Beneficiary
