This is the remarkable story of a Belleek actress who came back from Stage 4 cancer to win an All-Ireland Acting title in stunning fashion in Athlone in May.

Rachel O’Connor, from Belleek, is one of Fermanagh and indeed the country’s finest amateur actresses.

She has won many awards and is a really versatile performer on the boards.

But the Corry woman is grounded and eloquent as she explains the craft she enjoys and adorns.

Even though the modest but extremely talented Rachel would baulk at the above description, there is no doubt that she is an outstanding actress.

In recent time she won a host of Best Actress awards at the Enniskillen and her own Ballyshannon Drama Festivals for her outstanding portrayal of Margaret Thatcher – the former Prime Minister who passed away from Alzheimers, in the Ritz Hotel, in 2013.

But her greatest crowning glory was winning the All-Ireland title for best actress with the Ballyshannon Drama Society in Athlone last month.

The play is simply entitled ‘Margaret’, and Rachel gives a tour de force display along with co-star Shaun Byrne, who wrote a truly wonderful script, and it was directed by Monica Doherty – both of whom are from Ballybofey.

Rachel’s achievement would be remarkable for that feat alone, but she is still excelling at her craft while receiving ongoing treatment for Stage 4 cancer.

That is a true testament to her sheer courage, character and charisma.

But that coveted All-Ireland title looked a million miles away after Rachel got the devastating news that she had Stage 4 cancer in May of last year.

She told The Impartial Reporter: “We were on the circuit last year and we were doing, ‘A Delicate Balance’, by Edward Albee.

“I was directing and acting in it, and my husband, Sean, was doing the sound, set and lighting.

“We were busy since before Christmas 2022 and a lot was going on.

“I was tired, and I put it down to acting and directing, I had niggly pains in my stomach but nothing that I would take pain relief for, and the pain was shifting about.

“This was January/February 2023, and all of a sudden it was Easter, and I said, ‘If I still have these niggles after Easter, I am going to the doctor’.

“We were on the circuit at this stage, and I went to Doctor Davies and said I had a wee bit of weight loss.

“He did blood tests, and he rang me later that day to say that some of results were very sinister. I was gutted – I just could not believe it and that was in March.

“He fast-tracked me for a scan and ultrasound, and all that happened within a week, in the South West Acute Hospital.

“The results were confirmed as cancer and then I had to wait for a biopsy.”

But, in the meantime, Rachel had the Ulster and All-Ireland Drama Finals to contend with in April.

“As soon as both of them were over, I had the biopsy, the results of which took three weeks, and then I got really sick; I just plummeted.

“It was confirmed that I had Stage 4 cancer.

“It started off in my urinary tract, which is a bladder cancer. It was a very aggressive form and it took over my liver, the nodes in my back, and spots in my lungs.

“So once it was confirmed, I went to an oncologist, Dr. Brady, in Altnagelvin, and I was so weak at that stage, that I was wheeled in.

“My voice had gone – this was the end of May, beginning of June. He said I was not strong enough for chemo, but he had a plan.

“He put me on steroids on a Wednesday, and I was strong enough to start chemotherapy the following Monday, and I have never looked back since.”

She added: “I am now on Ammunotherapy, but my hair is all back which I lost during chemo. It used to be as straight as a poker, but it is lovely and curly now,” she quipped.

Rachel is a battler and was determined to keep going, but admitted: “In the beginning, I did not know if I would see Christmas, it was so bad.

“When you are faced with something like that, you just ask how much of the growth of my children am I going to see, or am I going to see them married, or am I going to see them with children? That’s what hits you.”

However, hope kicked in when Rachel got the chemo, and felt that she could eat and feel a bit better and drink water etc.

“I was so weak in the summer of last year. Ballyshannon Drama Society Chairman John Travers said: ‘We are not doing the circuit in 2024’.”

But brave Rachel continued her great fightback. It was a help that she had already done ‘Margaret’ as a one-woman show in the winter of 2022.

“Shaun Byrne, from Ballybofey, wrote it and he is a brilliant writer with the soul of a poet, and ‘Margaret’ was his third play in succession to qualify for the All-Ireland finals.

“John Travers had suggested to Shaun that he should write in the character of Denis Thatcher into the play and bring it on the circuit, and he took it on and added a few other characters, and it turned into a two-person play.

“Shaun re-wrote it, and I was battling the cancer. Sometimes it is great to have a focus other than yourself.

“Shaun also brought Monica Doherty, who is a great director from Ballybofey, and we said we would do something.

“So, we started rehearsals and we started to enter festivals in November last year.”

It was a help that Rachel knew the lines from before, but those lines were now interspersed with Shaun’s lines, so she had to re-adjust.

“We started travelling with the play last March but there was a great chemistry between us, and we were rehearsing up until the last minute.”

This was a remarkable recovery for a woman who had got potentially devastating news in May of last year, and was wowing audiences less than a year later with her superb portrayal of Margaret Thatcher in her declining years.

“It was a great focus for me. We started rehearsing after the William Allingham Festival last November, and I used to go to Derry for treatment on a Monday; we'd come back via Ballybofey and have a rehearsal.

“We have a great friendship, and it was wonderful to have Shaun and Monica close by when I was fighting another battle.

“It was never mentioned, and we just worked away. My husband Sean was doing the sound, and he got a nomination in the All-Ireland as well from adjudicator Tom Byrne.”

Meanwhile, Rachel did eight festivals, and got seven awards for Best Actress, which is an incredible achievement.

She won Ulster and All-Ireland titles. Rachel won in Kiltyclogher, Enniskillen, Strabane, Castleblayney, Portadown, Ballyshannon and Glenamaddy, and she was nominated in Carrickmore.

Rachel had been nominated five times for best actress previously, so the win this year was extra special.

“‘Margaret’ was on the final night, and the competition was very stiff. We performed the play as well as we could have, and the audience of the Dean Crowe Theatre is always very appreciative, and it is a great experience.”

So how did she feel when she got the much- coveted award?

“It was very emotional, given the year that had been it. It was one of those things I had always dreamed of. It was a fabulous play to get, and we all worked very hard.

“It was a challenge, playing somebody like Margaret Thatcher that people know, and while I was never going to look like her, I was determined to sound like her.”

Rachel had already won the All-Ireland Open title in 2023 for Best Supporting Actress in Athlone for ‘A Delicate Balance’, which she also directed, but last month’s great victory is the ultimate accolade.

But there were no big celebrations when Rachel arrived back in Ballyshannon. as Donegal Senior footballers had just won the Ulster title.

“They stole my thunder,” she laughed. “But I got so many messages and texts of congratulations, and I must say that Chairperson John Travers has been so encouraging; we work so well together.

“It has been a great journey, and my husband, Sean, has been a truly great supporter.”

When asked how can you cope with a cancer diagnosis, she said: “Don’t focus on the gravity of it, it seems terrible to be hit by that news, it sounds like life is over.

“But it is so not – you just take it day by day. Keep up and keep out, and be as positive as you can; even when you are weak, get up every day!

“I also got great comfort in prayer, and it is a very personal thing. Anything that gives you solace is good, and any other focus is good, even talking about it is good, because it can be quite lonely.”

Rachel has come on an incredible journey in the past year or so.

“It has been hectic, but it has been great. I can’t believe how far I have come in a year!

“I see my biggest achievement thus far is my battle against cancer, which I am winning, and the All Ireland trophy is the icing on the cake.

“I owe a huge thanks to the love and support of my family and friends, Ballyshannon Drama Society – my second family, Dr. Davies and Rathmore Clinic Staff Belleek, and Dr. Brady and his team at the North West Cancer Centre at Altnagelvin Hospital.”