'I keep seeing beautiful things and I can't help but wonder if I will have an opportunity to see them again'

CIARA MAGEEAN SAYS taking part in RTÉ’s Unchartered with Ray Goggins helped to rediscover a sense of herself from before her cancer diagnosis last May.

The Olympian joined former Dublin GAA star Michael Darragh MacAuley for a 250km trek across Costa Rica, and Goggins also explained how Mageean did so in between chemotherapy treatment.

Mageean, the 2024 1,500m European champion, spoke poignantly about how life has changed over the last 12 month.

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“Initially with the diagnosis you think, ‘oh my God, am I going to die?’. I feel like it’s nearly easier being the person who has the illness. Going to treatment is in my control.

“How I cope with that post-chemo slump is on me, and I know I will make it through, but it’s my partner Tommy, he has to see me feel sick. Or my parents, whose little girl is ill, and they can’t do anything about it.

“I have really low days and I think it’s normal to allow myself that.

“I keep seeing beautiful things and I can’t help but wonder if I will have an opportunity to see them again.”

The 33-year-old says the RTÉ show was a test of endurance that she was never going to shy away from.

“What I wanted to achieve from this journey was to be reminded of the Ciara I was before the cancer became a thing for me. And it did.

“Every challenege was tough but I knew that I could keep going because I’m not going to stop in the middle of a tough climb and say ‘that’s it, I give up’, I’m not going to do that. That’s not the person I am. I won’t give up. I’m not going to give up.

“I don’t know when the end of the journey will come but I know that I sure as hell am going to enjoy every path along the way.”