She may not have won, but Chloe Kennedy touched the country.
Rose of Tralee contestant Chloe Kennedy. Image: RTE.The 2019 International Rose of Tralee has been run and won for another year, and it was Limerick Rose Sinéad Flanagan that has been crowned the winner.
It was another epic installment of the competition, with so many amazing contestants and stories.
However another contestant in particular, 20-year-old Chloe Kennedy, left the nation touched after sharing the story of her cancer diagnosis.
In an emotive interview, the Donegal Rose who hails from Donegal town revealed how she discovered that she had cancer last year before she began studying in Maynooth University.
Speaking to Dáithí O'Sé on last night's Rose Of Tralee that she finished her chemotherapy in April.
She said that she hopes her story will inspire others. "Before I was diagnosed, I was feeling fine," she said.
"I had a bit of a lump but I didn't think much of it until I want to the doctor for something else and I mentioned it in passing and he said he knew from the start that he knew what it was. So we had to go get tests and we found out.
"It was actually my mum who told me and it didn't feel real, it was kind of like you're floating above yourself."
Chloe went on to explain how watching her parents tell other people about her diagnosis was one of the hardest things to go through.
Donegal Rose, Chloe Kennedy tells Dáithí about her cancer diagnosis and the day she received the all clear.#RoseofTralee pic.twitter.com/J29BqswFCB
— RTÉ One (@RTEOne) August 27, 2019
"We're a strong family and I found strength within myself I never knew I had," she said.
"I let myself have a bad day but I always try to have a good day after, to get myself out of the house and push myself to keep going.
"I knew we could get through it and we did. We had such a great team around me, my doctors, my nurses. They're phenomenal at keeping the spirits up."
Chloe said that the day she got the all clear was "phenomenal."
"It's the best feeling in the world. I hope that people who get that diagnosis will hear that one day, I really do," she said.
What a great story!
