Naas native brings white ribbon for lung cancer to Ireland

AFTER a very busy year, Naas lung cancer survivor and campaigner, Samantha Vaughan, has reached a new milestone by getting the white ribbon for lung cancer to local shops.

Living with lung cancer and currently undergoing a targeted treatment trial, she has spent the past year driving a grassroots campaign to bring the White Ribbon for lung cancer awareness to Ireland, delivered by Breakthrough Cancer Research. Samantha has worked hard to get the ribbon into local business, personally delivering boxes to shops, salons, chemists and community centres across Leinster and beyond.

“It’s an amazing feeling,” she said. “Even the conversations around it, people say, ‘my dad passed away,’ or ‘my mam is suffering from it’. There’s so many people out there with lung cancer. You think you’re the only person in Ireland.” Diagnosed with lung cancer in 2023, Samantha said the lack of rehabilitation support and awareness after her diagnosis prompted her to take action. Since the start of the campaign, she has managed to get the white ribbon in shops in Naas, Newbridge, Kildare, and further afield in places like Tipperary.

After surgery to remove half of her right lung, Samantha’s everyday activities changed in ways she never expected.

“You have to learn how to breathe all over again,” she explained.

Even speech requires more effort.

“I didn’t realise how much I needed a breath to talk,” she said. “People have said to me, ‘you’ve slowed down talking,’ and I didn’t even notice it myself.” Samantha describes her health as “up and down”, but says she is now entering the final year of a three-year clinical trial that has kept her cancer stable.

“I’ve only a year left of my treatment, and it kind of plays with your head,” she explained. “I feel like this is keeping me right, and all of a sudden I’m going to be losing that medication.” She is acutely aware that access to trials is not guaranteed.

“I’m very lucky,” she said. “Everybody should be on some kind of a trial once you have cancer. There’s a lot of people that need it and don’t get it.” Without the trial, she said, she would simply be living scan to scan. Instead, she is closely monitored, with regular bloods, biomarker testing and scans, something she describes as “peace of mind”.

“I wouldn’t have that peace of mind if I wasn’t in a trial,” she said.

While the treatment has been physically demanding, Samantha reckons the mental toll has been just as significant.

“Every cough, every lump, every bump, every sneeze, you’re going, ‘oh my God, what’s wrong with me?’” she said. “The mental side of it was, and still is, very hard.” She credits counselling with helping her cope:

“I’m not afraid to say counselling is the thing people should be going to do,” she said. “You don’t want to be upsetting your family by saying these things, but when you say them out loud to someone it really helps.” Returning to work six months ago has also given her structure, though fatigue remains a daily challenge.

“I’m very, very fatigued,” she said. “But it’s good for me too. It gets me moving again.” The White Ribbon campaign grew directly out of Samantha’s own experience navigating a lung cancer diagnosis with little information or support.

“When I was diagnosed, I wasn’t handed anything,” she said. “No leaflet, no rehabilitation before or after. I got nothing at all. Anything I’ve done, I’ve done for myself.” That lack of resources motivated her to act, not just through awareness ribbons, but also through advocacy work with the Irish Lung Cancer Community, helping to develop a GP information booklet written in plain, patient-friendly language.

“There was nothing from a patient’s side, in simpler words rather than big words nobody understands,” she said.

The White Ribbon initiative was officially launched last month at Leinster House with the Minister for Health, Jennifer Carroll MacNeill TD, in collaboration with Breakthrough Cancer Research, a moment Samantha describes as deeply emotional.

“It made it really real. Just knowing that someone wearing it [the ribbon] is putting money into research that could change someone else’s life.” Funds raised through the ribbons go directly towards lung cancer research, including clinical trials.

“That money finances biopsies, medication, trials,” she said.

Despite juggling treatment, work and advocacy, Samantha said she is consciously slowing down as Christmas approaches.

“I just want to chill,” she said. “My daughter is coming home from Australia and it’ll be the first time we’re all under one roof in a long time.” Having cancer has completely shifted her priorities, putting family and friends first before anything else: “It puts life into perspective,” she said.

While she plans to continue pushing awareness into 2026, she hopes to find national backing to help the campaign grow further.

“I’m only one small person,” she said. “But I’m proud of what we’ve done. It’s not even a year old, and it’s already in so many places.”