The aftermath of cancer: ‘It’s like you’re grieving. I feel like I’m grieving the old me, and then learning the new me’

Samantha Vaughan’s health issues began when she contracted Covid-19 in October 2022. The breathlessness she experienced at the time continued over the next few months. She would also suffer at times from hoarseness and sinus infections.

“I was in and out of the doctor with the breathlessness. I was getting antibiotics, inhalers, steroids. It was put down to long Covid the whole time,” says Samantha, 49, who lives in Co.



Laois with her husband Stephen. They are parents to four children, aged 30, 24, 17 and 15, three daughters and a son..