It’s a freezing cold January morning when I knock on Gill’s door in South Dublin. I can already see flashes of neon through the front room window and I get an inkling this is going to be an interesting shoot. 

Gill wrote to me, asking if I could photograph her for this project “I'm a big smiler so I'd like people to remember me for being happy, rather than for being the girl who died of cancer.”

Gill begins to tell me her story. “I'm just a normal Joe soap, but I suppose I have a fairly unique story in that I have terminal cancer.”

Faced with an uncertain timeline and a new perspective on life, Gill takes support and inspiration from her circle of friends. They rally around her through hospital stays, home visits, summer barbecues and also help Gill achieve some life goals. They whizz around Mondello racecourse on bicycles for 24 hours, abseil down buildings dressed as superheroes and see the sunrise over the Sahara in a hot air balloon.

“I'm very vocal on my socials about sun safety and all that because I was a sun worshipper, that’s why I got melanoma. Normally I'd use my platform for that, but today, what I would say to people is just enjoy life. Enjoy life for yourself, not for others. Do what you want to do. Live in your own little bubble of niceness and happiness.”

Come back tomorrow for another podcast/story/portrait.

x Ruth

Sin Scéal Eile - That's Another Story was hosted and created by Ruth Medjber, with sound by Ronan Lally. The podcast is produced by Dee Reddy at Poddle Audio with original music by Elaine Mai.

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