Mick – My Story 

Shortly after the country went into lockdown in late March 2020, I was busy delivering PPE to nursing homes and hospitals with my new job with a Cork based courier. Where most people were working from home, we were at the second front line, very busy delivering peoples on line shopping purchases. I have always been fit and healthy and was blessed with never having any illnesses. To help my chances if I did get covid, I went on a health kick; watching what I was eating, cutting out alcohol and going to the gym. This unfortunately hid one of the symptoms of my bowel cancer; I lost a stone in weight in short time, but I put it down to attending the gym and the other lifestyle changes I had made. 

In April 2020 I started to have some subtle changes in my bowel habits. I was having more bloating and wind pains. Neither were too dramatic or impactful on my day-to-day life/work and my energy levels were still good so I didn’t think I needed to go to the doctor as I put this down to my new healthier diet. The symptoms became worse towards the summer with stools becoming looser.

 But I still had no blood in my stools which for me was always the main indicator of bowel cancer. I tried to remedy it myself with diet change, but it had no effect. I visited my doctor in August and he gave me antibiotics for a bowel infection. Both he and I thought I might have coeliac disease given my symptoms. He took bloods for this test which came back positive. I then went on a gluten free diet which eased all symptoms except for the loose stools. A month later he brought be back in and when speaking to me he was concerned that my bowel habits hadn’t returned to normal and also, I didn’t have a feeling of emptying after I went to the toilet. He then took further bloods and sent them off this time checking for cancer markers. 

Unfortunately, in late September I received the call from him that the bloods had shown elevated cancer makers for bowel cancer and the process began of referring me on for a colonoscopy. The Gastroenterologist did the colonoscopy on the 26th of November. On the 3rd of December I was told that I was indeed coeliac but that I also had some cancer. While I had a very good idea from the earlier blood test results that I had indeed got some form of cancer it was still very hard to hear it being confirmed. Once I had that official diagnosis things moved very quickly. 3 days later I was back in to meet the surgeon who would be removing the cancerous part of my bowel. Before he could do that, I needed to have an MRI to see if there was any spread. Unfortunately, it was confirmed that the cancer had metastasised already and was extensively across my liver. As a result of this a simple resection of the cancerous part of the bowel was no longer an option. We then sat down with the Oncologist (Prof. Derek Power) who summarised what his course of treatment would be. His hope was that the cancer in the liver could be shrank enough so that the cancerous part could be removed allowing the healthy part of the liver to regenerate. The plan was to start chemo as soon as possible. I would also need to have a port fitted. During this discussion he asked how my symptoms were and I advised that there had been no change and that I was needing the toilet between 7/8 times a day. He advised that due to the inflammatory nature of my cancer I was at high risk of a bowel perforation. He referred me to back to my surgeon who decided with me that a bowel bypass would be the best option. Due to the urgency of getting me started on chemo I was brought in the next morning for ileostomy surgery on the 19th of December 2020. The port was also fitted at this time. I began chemo on the 4th of January and had that every two weeks until August 2021 when we met with the liver surgeon about the outlook for surgery. Unfortunately, they confirmed that due to the position of the cancer, and how extensively it was across the liver, it was not operable and unlikely to ever be so. This was a huge blow and changed everything. I no longer had the goal of remission but rather just getting as much time as possible. I entrusted myself to the care of Derek Power and the Mercy Oncology team. I continued chemo every two weeks and had Immunotherapy added on top of this in August 2022 when the previous chemo I had been on had stopped working. I used this time and the support from ARC house and my psychotherapist Michelle O ’Riordan to get as many positives from my diagnosis and to try and live as normal a life as possible. While it has been tough on my wife Denise and my three kids Caoimhe, Dermot and Cormac we try and keep going with normal daily life while embracing the sad days when they come. If I can pass on any message it’s don’t wait to get checked out. Don’t assume things will go away or improve on their own. I have no family history of cancer – so don’t assume that if you have no family history that it can’t happen to you. The warnings are for you and the statistics of 1 in 2 include you. Early detection is key with any cancer. I have been on chemo every two weeks since January 2020 – I had my 53rd treatment on the 28th of February. The support from my extended family, friends and the wonderful of community of Carrigtwohill where we live have mad the tough days that little bit easier.

Getting the initial diagnosis as bad as it was I suppose it allowed me to go a bit in denial, thinking I can get through this and return to be the same person in 6 months. My coping mechanism was to stay far too positive and this forced Denise and the children to too stay falsely positive in contrast to what was just below the surface. Working with Michelle , my psychotherapist  , she helped me deal with it myself and in turn this allowed my family to deal with it much better. Things that were off the cards for discussion were now freely spoken about.

Watching the people closest to me openly grieve for our future which was now lost was and is incredibly hard,  but too having the chance to share moments and memories now that maybe we wouldn't have had without a terminal diagnosis is a precious gift we take every moment to enjoy.

Being the reason your kids are forced to feel pain and having their carefree childhood taken away from them is something that will never leave me but seeing them thrive in such adversity too is heart-warming.

Being unable to work because of the illness and knowing a return to work will never happen and all the strain this puts on family finances is tough but having the time and opportunity to spend with a young family every day and help shape who they will be is worth much more than any pay check.

Our future is very much in the hands of a higher being and all we can do is wake each day and hope for more laughs than tears