A FERMANAGH woman has expressed a deep zest for life following her use of an experimental cancer treatment to fight her own illness.

Tanya Armstrong’s moving story was highlighted in this newspaper in late 2020 when the community in Fermanagh and further afield rallied around the Clabby woman to raise £25,000 for her to undergo dendritic cell therapy – a form of experimental cancer treatment – from Germany.

The people in the community smashed the target goal for Tanya’s treatment, which led to surplus donations being donated to NIPANC, a Northern Ireland charity working to improve the outcomes of pancreatic cancer, and the district nurses who looked after Tanya.

SEE MORE: Dendritic Cell Therapy could extend Tanya's life

Tanya had been undergoing chemotherapy sessions until she began her dendritic cell treatment.

Speaking to The Impartial Reporter Tanya said: “I am taking it three months at a time [scans for cancer patients are taken every three months], but I’m feeling good, if a bit tired, but it is not as tiring as chemo.

“The tumour has grown slightly ... but to not have had chemo for this long with this type of cancer is an achievement.

"Chemo was draining – not just the treatment but the journey to and from Belfast. You do have your ups and downs with it, but something [in the treatment] is doing good for me.

“I am just listening to my body and taking it one day at a time by how I feel,” she said.

If the need for chemotherapy returns, Tanya will be able to take her dendritic cell therapy alongside her chemotherapy treatment.

Praising the treatment, which was classified as a risk as there was no guarantee it would take, Tanya said: “It is better to have six months to a year of having a life and feeling good, instead of feeling bad and tired on the chemo.”

Thanks to feeling better from her treatment, Tanya has been able to do thing that otherwise she would have been too tired to do.

SEE MORE: Tanya begins Dendritic cell therapy following fundraiser

She added: “At Christmas, I was able to cook my Christmas dinner, which I hadn’t been fit to do that for the last number of years! It’s just wee things like that.”

Tanya was full of praise for all those who helped to fund her treatment, and she also expressed great gratitude to her friends, family and former colleagues who supported her throughout her illness.

She added: “Nobody can say how long it [good health] will last, but at the moment I am thankful for it, and being able to do things again.”