The popular fiction writer, blogger and Breast Cancer Ireland ambassador, Emma Hannigan who has died at the age of 45, was a warm, positive, funny and generous presence in the world of publishing and cancer awareness campaigning.
Emma Hannigan grew up in Bray, Co Wicklow, and attended St Gerard’s School with her older brother, Timmy. A spirited child and feisty teenager, she met her husband, Cian McGrath – also a student at St Gerard’s School – at the Pod nightclub on Harcourt Street in Dublin in February 1997. After a whirlwind romance, they got engaged within 10 months and married in June 1998.
With the arrival of their son, Sacha, in 1999 and daughter, Kim, 18 months later – she often said the next few years passed in a fog of sleepless nights and the exhaustion of tiny babies and toddlers. Having trained as a chef at Ballymaloe cookery school and later retrained as a beauty therapist, Emma then embraced motherhood. It was only, when her children were at school and Montessori, did she begin to think about a new career.
Gene mutation
In 2005, Emma discovered that she had the BRCA1 gene mutation which carries an 85 per cent risk of developing breast cancer and a 50 per cent risk of developing ovarian cancer. With her two children still so young, she opted to have preventative surgery which was said to reduce her risk of developing these cancers to 5 per cent. In 2006, Emma had a double mastectomy and had her ovaries and fallopian tubes removed. However, in 2007, in spite of the surgery, she was diagnosed with breast cancer for the first time and her lengthy battle with cancer began.
From then on, Emma Hannigan's experience with cancer paralleled her writing career as she used writing as her escape from grueling treatment regimes. She often said that she never let breast cancer silence her. She wrote|: "The disease can invade my body but not my mind." In fact, her first book, Designer Genes – which mirrors her own experience of trying to lessen her chances of developing cancer by having preventative surgery – started off as her personal musings on the subject.
First draft
Counting popular fiction writer Cathy Kelly among her closest friends, she sent the first draft of Designer Genes to her – asking for her honest opinion. Kelly shared her contacts and encouraged her to send it to publishers. Within two weeks, Emma had two offers and from that time on, she wrote relentlessly.
Comfortable in the limelight, Hannigan embraced the publicity surrounding being a writer. She would often bring homemade treats to interviews and signing tours, winning people over with her charm, style and generosity. Popular among the female tribe of Irish popular fiction writers, she also shared her love of life with her many followers on social media.
Her book The Pink Ladies Club which tells the story of three women drawn together in their fight against cancer, was shortlisted in the Eason Irish Popular Fiction Book of the Year category at the Irish Book Awards in 2011. She won Woman of the Year in the literature category of the Irish Tatler Women of the Year awards in 2013 and the Romantic Novelists Association's Epic Romantic Novel category in 2016 for The Secrets We Share. In total, she wrote 13 best-selling books published by Hachette Books in Ireland and Headline in the UK. Her most recently published book, Letters to My Daughters, is a current best-seller in Ireland. Prompted by her agent, Sheila Crowley, she wrote about her own cancer journey in Talk to the Headscarf which she updated in 2017 as All to Live For.
Fears around cancer
As an ambassador for Breast Cancer Ireland Emma worked hard to dispel the fears around cancer and spread hope about new treatments. Until her last terminal diagnosis, she always remained optimistic about her treatment for cancer and had great trust in her oncologist, Dr David Fennelly, and his team at Blackrock Clinic.
In an interview in 2016 when her book The Perfect Gift was published, she described her mother, Denise, as her great supporter, encourager and shopping partner. Her father, Philip, was her business manager. Having built a house next door to her parents in Bray, Emma Hannigan was never far from those she loved.
Eulogy
In the eulogy she wrote for her own funeral, she said it was love that mattered most. And, in death as in life, she wished everyone well. “There’s enough sadness, suffering and strife. Let the laughter be heard. Look after each other. Be kind. Be happy. Be grateful. And most of all, be yourself.”
Emma Hannigan is survived by her husband, Cian McGrath; their son, Sacha (18) and daughter, Kim (15); her parents, Philip and Denise; brother Timmy and sister-in-law Hilary.