An inspirational young Fermanagh woman, Rachel Wilson (formerly Byers) was only married a matter of months when she was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. The 23-year-old nurse, who now lives in Manchester but is originally from Lisbellaw, was only too familiar with the cancer illness as her brother had also been treated for it in recent years. However, Rachel points out “it is extremely rare for siblings to have Hodgkin’s Lymphona.” Rachel, who has a strong Christian faith, was on a recent visit back home to Fermanagh, when she hosted a coffee morning at Fermanagh Christian Fellowship’s premises in Belmore Street, Enniskillen, for two chosen beneficiaries. She is supporting the Northern Ireland Cancer Fund for Children which has just opened a new facility in Newcastle, Co. Down, and she is also backing the conversion of a building into a new baby unit in Zambia, which her father John Byers will be travelling out to work on in May.

Rachel, a daughter of John and Valerie Byers, studied at Manchester University before embarking on her nursing career. She had been working as a Cardiac Nurse in Surgery in Intensive Care in Manchester Hospital prior to her illness.

She got married on September 28, 2012 to Alistair Wilson, from London, whom she met through Christian Union at University, and it was only nine months later that she became ill with Hodgkin’s. She recalls that in May 2013 she started to become really tired. She noticed a lump on her neck and she suffered neck and back pain. She underwent physiotherapy and admits that she felt “no better”.

She was referred to the High Suspicion of Cancer Clinic and underwent a fine needle aspiration, which showed she was most likely suffering from Hodgkin’s lymphona and it was a biopsy in July which confirmed it.

“By then there was a noticeable lump on my neck,” mentioned Rachel, who admits that she had “kind of put two and two together as her brother had Hodgkin’s Lymphona five years ago.” She says she had a lot of the same symptoms and by the time she went to the doctor, she “kind of knew.” Initially, she said she cried a lot and she says she telephoned her father. “You never think that it will happen to you,” said Rachel, who was only married nine months at the time. She remembers her father saying they had done this before and “we will get on with it.” Rachel adds: “I knew the process - I knew what was going to happen.” She recollects that it hit Adam hard and she says she knew exactly what lay ahead.

When Adam was diagnosed he was more advanced and had to have six months chemotherapy, explained Rachel, who underwent four months of chemotherapy and three weeks of radiotherapy. That finished on December 17, 2013, and she returned home for Christmas. She received her treatment in Christie’s cancer hospital, Manchester, which she explained has a specific young oncology unit. She greatly appreciated that everything was in the one place and said you could easily forget you were in hospital. Players from Man. Utd. football team came into the unit at Christie’s and she had the chance to meet Wayne Rooney (pictured above), who put her on his Facebook page, and she also had her photograph taken with Ryan Giggs (pictured above).

“I had been a nursing student there in my final year,” said Rachel, who two years later found herself being treated by her mentor. “It was a bizarre scenario,” felt Rachel, whose mother came over every two weeks for her daughter’s treatment.

The young wife had her final scan on March 19 and she is now due to get her results and will find out how well she got on with her treatment. She says she is “definitely positive” and feels “a lot better”. Last week Rachel was given the all clear.

Rachel, who is actively involved in her church, the Ivy in Manchester, mentioned that her Christian faith has meant a lot to her and she highlighted that “so many people prayed for me.” She lost her hair completely, but it has returned really well. “I feel good,” says Rachel, who has joined a gym and is hoping to go back to work this month, April, having been off for 10 months.

Reflecting on her illness, she admits she had been angry for a while and asked the question “why at this point in my life?” “You have to realise that there is a plan,” said Rachel, who trusted “that God’s work is for the good of those who love him.” There were lots of times when Rachel said she was “feeling rough” and she couldn’t get out of bed. She felt lethargic and was really irritated and said it was difficult to concentrate. “Something clicked about a month ago,” felt Rachel, who is getting up, cooking, cleaning and doing normal stuff.

“I started going to the gym to build up stamina. I am feeling a lot more clear. It is difficult to describe.” She misses work but has managed to keep up with colleagues and she still went to the Christmas work do for a bit.

Rachel says she wanted to fundraise for NI Cancer Fund for Children and hence she and her family held the recent Coffee Morning at F.C.F.

“NI Cancer Fund for Children helped out a lot when Adam was sick,” said Rachel, who also spoke about the respite centre in Newcastle, which her family used. Her brother, who was diagnosed five years ago, has been fine, according to Rachel, who spoke about how “extremely rare” it was for siblings to have Hodgkin’s Lymphona.

Her other chosen cause is in aid of a project that her father supports. John is travelling to Zambia with Bushfire Ministries and this will be his third trip; on this occasion they will convert a building into a baby unit which will be able to take newborn babies. A closeknit family, Rachel and Adam are two of five children; their siblings are Laura-Jayne, Stephanie and Hannah. In reference to the diagnoses, their mother Valerie Byers says that they have just got on with it. “I feel really blessed I still have my children. God has been gracious.” She recalls that when they brought Adam home from university, she took inspiration from the hymn, “Great is thy Faithfulness” and in particular the line, ‘Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow’. “That really stood out for me as Adam started his treatment,” revealed Valerie, who feels so blessed that her children were able to take the treatment.

Faith and family have been their strengths for the Byers family, who are conscious of the prayers of a lot of churches. Rachel, husband Alistair and the Byers family are very appreciative of everyone’s support to the event at F.C.F., which raised over £1,300. “It makes you realise the generosity of people,” said Rachel gratefully.