A Downpatrick woman’s life was saved by her co-workers.

When social worker Sara McGarvey arrived at work in January 2023 with a swollen eye, she didn’t think much of it at first.

“I said to everyone there was something wrong with my eye,” she recalls. “We were having a laugh about it, but people were saying, ‘Have a look at that.’”

One of her colleagues, Ryan Campbell, took it seriously and took action.

“Ryan forced me to go downstairs to the eye clinic. He even spoke to the lady working there and got me seen to,” Sara said.

That quick decision turned out to be life-saving for Sara, 36, and she was diagnosed with a rare, aggressive form of cancer in her right eye, called soft tissue sarcoma.

“If it had not of been for my colleagues, things could have gotten so much worse; the cancer was so aggressive. They saved my life,” said Sara.

 To this day, Sara still marks the anniversary of her diagnosis by texting the two colleagues who helped get her seen. “It’s a really big deal to me — but they maybe don’t understand how much it meant to me.”

A mum of one from Downpatrick, Sara had to navigate her treatment while also looking after her young son.

Sara was diagnosed 10 days after her son, Michael’s, second birthday. Michael is 4 now.

“You have to keep going, don’t you?” she says simply. “There’s no choice.”

Sara’s treatment included 5 different types of chemotherapy every fortnight for five months.

As a patient at the Northern Ireland Cancer Centre, Sara found herself jealous of the nurses caring for her.

 “I just wanted to come to work and do my job and look after people like the nurses were looking after people, not be looked after.  I didn’t want to be looked after.  I wanted to get back to normal,” she explained.

As a part of Sara’s treatment, she spent seven weeks at the Christie Hospital in Manchester, where she received proton beam therapy. This is a precise form of radiotherapy that targets the cancer and minimised the risk of damage to Sara’s brain, her other eye and her vision.

Whilst in Manchester, Sara found solace by working remotely and being able to regain a slight bit of normalcy.

“For me normalcy is being able to help other people. Being the person who needed help was challenging. I have lots of other things in my life, I am a wife, a mum, a daughter- but I am also a social worker,” said Sara.

“Work is just different, it’s a way of keeping motivated, keeping focus and ultimately for me, helping people.”

Prior to beginning chemo, Sara applied for a promotion to a senior post in the team she had grown to love.