Olympic runner Ciara Mageean gave an incredible interview to Brendan O’Connor on RTE Radio One today (Saturday).

Ciara, who won gold at the 1500m race during the 2024 European Athletics Championship, withdrew from the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris after suffering an Achilles injury, which was, at the time, a huge blow to Team Ireland.

Now the Olympic superstar has opened up on her recent cancer diagnosis, her treatment to date, plans for her wedding, and what the future holds.

The interview moved listeners to tears and prompted hundreds of people to text the programme to show their support for the young athlete, as she faces the fight of her life, against a terminal prognosis.

Last year, Ciara announced that she had been diagnosed with cancer, and she wrapped up her final round of chemotherapy back in December.

The Olympic athlete has written a book about her life, her hopes and dreams, and her devastating cancer diagnosis. My Greatest Race is available now, and Ciara has said the book project was a welcome distraction during her months of treatment for stage four bowel cancer.

Speaking to Brendan O’Connor, Ciara explained how, on reflection, she feels like, despite the terminal diagnosis, there are still good things to celebrate in life.

Ciara spoke of how she first found out about her cancer diagnosis, and what the first warning signs were.

She explained how, being an athlete, irritable bowel could be all part and parcel of nerves before a race, but also felt that needing to use the bathroom so many times a day was just not normal.

By chance, a phone call with her nutritionist and doctor led to her being tested for what she thought was irritable bowel syndrome, so she dutifully took stool samples and sent them in for analysis.

The tests led to further examinations and scopes, MRI’s and PET scans, and she was diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer, with quite significant metastasis in her liver and lung.

Throughout her treatment, she has approached things very positively, with a mindset of ‘Ok, what’s next?’

Ciara told how when she got the diagnosis, the first call she made was to her older sister, Myra, who is a surgeon, and who guided her through the first steps of a treatment plan.

She told of one particular day, when she and Thomas, her fiancé, just sat in their car and cried.

Thoughts of her impending death took over for a while. She explained that she felt the Grim Reaper standing right behind her and wondered how much time she had left to live and whether she and Thomas should get married quickly, as she might not have much time.

Ciara explained how she went out and bought a wedding dress the same day as the first PICC line ( a long, thin, flexible tube inserted into a vein in the upper arm, and threaded to a large vein near the heart, to serve as an IV line for long-term treatment of cancer) went in.

At one meeting with her treatment team, Ciara was told that neither surgery nor radiation was a suitable treatment and that her timeline for survival could be as little as two to three years.

She explained how she walked out of that meeting and said, ‘F*** it – I’m going to Costa Rica, and I’m having fun, because if I’m going to die, I’m going to fit as much living into the years that I have left.’

Ciara subsequently took part in the Uncharted television show with Ray Goggins in Costa Rica.

In the next few minutes, the nation held its breath as the 35-year-old explained how, at times, she feels complete sadness, that she won’t live to have children and grandchildren, or see Tommy grow old, and get to have so many celebrations with friends and family through the years.

‘I don’t really have the luxury of thinking that anymore, that it might be a reality if this treatment works, and I’m hopeful that I get to live into my old age, but the odds are stacked against me, and it’s unlikely, and that’s really, really hard.’

‘I’m mourning the loss of things I never had, of being able to retire from my sport and having that farewell race, mourning the loss of a family that I really, really wanted.’

‘The fact that I won’t be able to have children with Tommy, and wonder if they will have his beautiful blue eyes.’

Ciara went on to explain why she wanted to share her journey in her new book, to reiterate how important it is to listen to your body, and to show people that there are no guarantees in life.

In life, she has chosen to be happy with the time she has left and added ‘Live every day. I feel like the hourglass is so much more obvious for me now with time ticking down, and I mean, we have so many beautiful things to look forward to, we are planning a wedding, and this past week we viewed a couple of venues.’

‘While I am feeling fit and healthy and looking the way I look, I want to go and enjoy a celebration and marry the man I love.’

‘A celebration of life is what I want, and I hope that is what comes through in my book.’

After the interview, host Brendan O’Connor, audibly moved by the courage of his guest, said the programme had received hundreds of text messages in support of Ciara and sending her best wishes for the road ahead.

Her book My Greatest Race is available now at all good bookshops.

Athlete Ciara Mageean says she is determined to “fit as much living into the years I have left” as she spoke about her stage four cancer diagnosis https://t.co/bsloAp2AKO

— RTÉ News (@rtenews) June 13, 2026