Majella O’Donnell Opens Up About Recent Cancer Scares and Ongoing Anxiety
DUBLIN — Majella O’Donnell, television personality and wife of Irish country music star Daniel O’Donnell, has spoken candidly about her ongoing fears of cancer recurrence, revealing that she has experienced two significant health scares in the past two years, the most recent just weeks ago.
Majella, 57, was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2013. Her battle became public when she courageously shaved her head on The Late Late Show to raise money for the Irish Cancer Society at the start of her chemotherapy. Though she was declared cancer-free after treatment, she admitted this week that the psychological impact of the disease has never fully gone away.
“Just a couple of weeks back I found a lump in my neck,” she told the Irish Mirror. “It was my lymph gland which was swollen. Straight away I thought, ‘lymph gland, it’s back.’ It’s scary. I went in and had MRIs and a CT and bone scans and blood tests and it was all clear. I just had an infection.”
Despite the relief of being given the all-clear, Majella acknowledged that post-cancer anxiety continues to weigh heavily on her life. “In the last two years, twice I’ve gone to the oncologist and said, ‘something’s not right,’ and she’s checked me and I’m grand,” she said. “The further I get from my diagnosis — four years now — the more I worry. If I feel sick, or if I have a pain in my back for too long, straight away I think, ‘the cancer is back.’”
She added that, paradoxically, the immediate years after treatment brought her more peace of mind than the years further out. “After I had the cancer treatment, the first couple of years after it was great, you were over it. But when you’re over it for four years, you start to worry. That’s the only thing. I do feel, and it’s a bit of a shame, that I’m looking over my shoulder.”
Majella’s grandmother died of breast cancer, and she remains acutely aware of the hereditary risks for her family. Her daughter, Siobhan McLennan, who is expecting her second child, is never far from her thoughts. “I do worry,” she admitted. “My daughter is coming up 30 now so I tell her to regularly check the girls. Be aware and don’t ever think ‘it’s not going to happen to me’ because it can happen to any one of us.”
Her empathy extends to other public figures who have battled the disease, including singer Olivia Newton-John, who revealed a recurrence of breast cancer more than two decades after her first diagnosis. “I’ve met Olivia a few times. I did send her a message,” Majella said. “After twenty-something years and you get it back again, it’s very disappointing. For somebody like me, it makes me think, ‘it’s always there in the background, is it waiting to come and bite me on the bum again?’”
Majella continues to undergo check-ups every six months and has remained active in raising awareness for breast cancer. On Monday, she helped launch Cups Against Cancer, a new Irish Cancer Society campaign to fund additional research into the disease. Her decision to lend her voice to the campaign reflects her ongoing commitment to using her platform to encourage vigilance and provide support for others navigating the same fears.
For Majella, the battle against cancer is as much mental as physical. While her medical results remain clear, she acknowledges that the shadow of recurrence is something she still carries. “I suppose you worry about turning into a bit of a hypochondriac,” she said, “but when you’ve been through it, you can’t help but fear it will come back.”