A Miracle Recovery from Cancer.

By Georgina Brennan

WHEN Antoinette Kearns, 20, first came to New York City she thought she might die from a rare and crippling cancer. But, through the generosity of Irish Voice readers and Sloan Kettering Hospital, Antoinette got an early Christmas present this week – her cancer is completely cured. 

“She was given the all clear to return to Ireland and continue a normal life, something that just four months ago seemed impossible,” said her mother Marian, back in Dublin this week.

“Everyone was wonderful to us in America, their generosity and the way in which they took us into their homes and hearts during our stay. We are both happy and sad to be leaving; happy that Antoinette has been given the all clear by the doctors and sad because we leave behind a lot of new friendships that we will cherish always,” she added. 

Antoinette says she was aided in her battle with cancer by the doctors in New York who saved her life. “I was made to feel so special in Sloan Kettering and they not only treated me medically, but they treated me with tenderness and kindness,” she said.

Her recovery from cancer is dramatically different to what was happening to her just one short year ago. In January of this year, Antoinette, from Port-marnock, Co. Dublin, was coping with a new college course in media and communications studies and doing part time modeling in the hopes of reaching stardom when she noticed a soreness inside that she couldn’t explain.

She was on the brink of stardom as a part-time model and thought maybe she had been working too hard. Thinking it wasn’t too serious, Antoinette went to her doctor. 

Then, the bubbly young woman’s life was shattered when she was diagnosed with chondrosarcoma – a rare and crippling cancer. Doctors in Ireland knew she needed a special kind of help so she was sent to New York to see a team of oncologists for a consultation. 

And now, after a grueling six weeks of treatment, she is cured. Antoinette underwent an intense course of radiation followed by surgery to remove the cancer cells around the tissue area. Chondrosarcoma is a disorder of bone growth (tumor). It happens when cancer cells begin growing in normal cartilage tissue. It has nothing to do with cancer anywhere else in the body, and it can develop on its own. 

Her cancer is now gone and Antoinette is on the road to recovery. She will have check ups and she will have to be careful for the rest of her life, but now she has a life in front of her, a life she thought was slipping away just a few months ago. 

“We arrived in New York on the 19th of August not sure what was going to happen,” says Antoinette’s sister Lisa. “The treatment started immediately with radiation. Once that began the bills began to mount up, and though we were fortunate enough to be staying in Long Island, the commuting was difficult.” 

Initially, while the beautiful young Dubliner was afraid of not being able to afford her care, a front page story in the Irish Voice led to the Irish community coming out in droves for Antoinette. 

Once they read Antoinette’s story, Brendan Fay and Tom Moulton offered the Kearns family an apartment in their house in Astoria, a half an hour closer to the hospital. Then the owners of Kenny’s Castaway in the heart of Greenwich Village called up the Irish Voice looking to host a benefit for Antoinette. 

A man from Connecticut called to offer his services as a band for a benefit, and hundreds of people wrote letters, signed checks and supported Antoinette. “We raised around $20,000 with the paper, benefit and tickets. Antoinette and her family couldn’t thank everyone enough,” said family friend Jackie Fulton. 

Now, Antoinette says she can never thank everyone enough for putting the pretty smile back on her face.

“All those kind and wonderful people all over America made such a difference to our lives by their generosity. They will be forever in our prayers. We never thought coming to America that we would be treated with such wonderful affection and selfless giving. We can never repay them but we will never forget them,” she says.

Now, Antoinette is looking forward to Christmas with her family, taking college back up again when she is feeling up to it, and maybe with a bit of luck pursuing that modeling career.