“There wasn’t really any practical or emotional support available for me when I was a patient, so now, I think it is so important and feel very passionately that patients and their families need and deserve that support."
As a cancer survivor, Brenda Conboy knows the value of the Irish Cancer Society’s supports for patients and their families. “There wasn’t really any practical or emotional support available for me when I was a patient, so now, I think it is so important and feel very passionately that patients and their families need and deserve that support. I have been volunteering with the Irish Cancer Society for 15 years in their retail shops and for 8 years in a Daffodil Centre.”
In her volunteering, due to her different roles, her work can vary. “In the shop, you’re taking the donations, looking after the customers and making sure if they have any questions about our work, they get sent to the right place for that information"
In the Daffodil Centre, it’s very different. As a survivor, I volunteer by listening to people affected by cancer, that could be the patient themselves, or their family members. I’m there to listen and to give that practical and emotional support and then if needed, I signpost them towards our range of services and show them where they can get more supports.”
“When people leave the Daffodil Centre a little less anxious than when they came in, you know you have made a difference."
For Brenda, her favourite part of volunteering is reassuring and putting people affected by cancer at ease. “When people leave the Daffodil Centre a little less anxious than when they came in, you know you have made a difference and reassured them. You want them to know that we’re there for them. Every step they take, we will take it with them.”
“I won’t stop supporting patients and their families.”
