Paul Mescal’s mum says she is taking cancer treatment ‘day by day’

The Maynooth mother-of-three has been very open about her journey online, and got her first haircut in preparation for treatment, just hours before her son would receive his Oscar nomination.

Dearbhla has multiple myeloma, a form of bone marrow cancer.

"I suppose this is my first day," she told Instagram followers. "They don't call it first day -- the first day is actually the day you get your stem cells back... but we're not going to worry about those things.

"I slept pretty okay. I have had my PICC line (peripherally inserted central catheter) put in,” she added. “That is going to give me the start of the chemo this afternoon and it will also feed me if I get too ill or if I need further pain meds."

She called the healthcare workers “just wonderful” who treated her with “such care” and “beautiful kindness” as she remains positive.

"I am still sort of assessing the place I’m in, and also the place I am in -- so the physical and the mental -- right now. I haven’t put the TV on yet, I haven’t put on my music yet. I am literally sitting in the quiet... it just really is day by day."

She brought followers through the process of her chemotherapy from the hospital, sharing how she must stay hydrated ahead of and during the treatment.

"Silver linings,” she wrote, sharing a video this morning of her eating ice pops as she received her “second and last chemo.”

The mum admitted there is going to be “a few dark days, but there is always light.”

"Isn’t there always light?” Dearbhla added. “Even on a day like today… so, here’s to silver linings and ice pops,” she laughed.

"My mum got her first haircut today in prep for her chemotherapy and then Paul got nominated for an Oscar, life is so crazy,” his younger sister Nell said on Twitter.

Her mum Dearbhla got the chop “before the hospital short cut”, she said, later revealing a shorter hairstyle with a slight fringe.

“I know what’s ahead because I have been informed by my wonderful team and I want to be ready so that when I’m in hospital I’m only concentrating on that battle.

"This is the final stage for me to start living with this cancer.”

On her son’s Oscar nomination, Dearbhla revealed she had been “folding washing” to distract herself from the announcements.

“I don’t watch [the announcements] because I find them way too stressful, I was folding washing.

"I just waited for the WhatsApp,” she added.

"We have this WhatsApp group and there were shocked faces and crying eyes… just wow."

The proud mum called the moment “magic, joyful” and “bizarre” when host Ray D’Arcy said the words “Oscar-nominated” will now always follow her 26-year-old son’s name.

"When you look at the people he’s with… we kind of jokingly say we’re a country of storytellers and actually, when you see what we have produced, it’s quite amazing when you see the films that are there.

"And Paul is one of those very lucky ones to be in the mix.”