‘After years of monitoring and scans, they have come to the conclusion I'm going to be ok’
Michael McCormack, Navan is asking the public to support the charity's 50/50 campaign this October to raise a vital €150,000 for cancer research
ANN CASEY
A NAVAN man who has made a remarkable recovery from oesophageal cancer is getting behind a fundraising camapign this month for The Oesophageal Cancer Fund (OCF).
Michael McCormack, Slane Road, Navan is asking the public to support the charity's 50/50 campaign this October to raise a vital €150,000 for cancer research and to help spread awareness of the early symptoms of this difficult cancer.
These symptoms include difficulty swallowing, persistent acid indigestion, heartburn and reflux.
Michael was diagnosed with oesophageal cancer in 2013 and has been cancer free since 2015.
“It was a very worrying time, but the OCF were great at providing support and information on how to live life to the full,” he said.
Michael recalls that in December 2012 he noticed that he very occasionally had difficulty swallowing food.
“I really didn't think much of it. I've always been a fast eater.”
Michael's wife, Kathleen Devine, is a physiotherapist and she persuaded him to go to a doctor.
“My GP referred me to a consultant in Navan who organised an X-ray and gastroscope and just before St Patrick's Day 2013, I was told it was cancer of the oesophagus.
“I was referred straight to a specialist in Blanchardstown, Professor Tom Walsh and I was started on chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
“I had five sessions of chemotherapy and for several weeks, I was having radiotherapy every day in the new centre at Beaumont Hospital.
“I knew from the start that after all that treatment, I would have surgery and in July 2013, I had my stomach removed. The tumour had been down low in my oesophagus, where it enters the stomach.”
Michael spent 10 days in hospital in Blanchardstown after the surgery and for a week was being fed through lines in his neck.
“It was the hottest week of the year,” he recalls.
“Overall, I didn't find the experience too bad and when I left hospital I was told to eat little and often, but I was eating normal food within five or six weeks.
“It had been ten hours of surgery and had been energy sapping.”
Despite his ordeal Michael was back at work by December that year.
“I was enjoying life, eating relatively normally, but I was always a bit of a grazer.”
Michael suffered a major setback in the summer of 2014 when his legs became swollen.
“It was cancer again and was in the lymph nodes and there was nothing they could do surgically.
“I started chemotherapy in September and that continued until the following April.
“I was told the prognosis wasn't good as the survival expectation was two to three years.”
Luckily, Michael defied the odds and six years on, the future is looking good.
“After years of monitoring and scans, they have come to the conclusion that I'm going to be ok.”
Michael knows he was very lucky and would urge people to get symptoms investigated early.
“My symptoms were really very mild, I though it was something very minor.
“I see myself as being extremely fortunate,” he said.
Michael is extremely grateful for the support he received from the OCF and the Irish Cancer Society.
“I had counselling in the Gary Kelly Centre in Drogheda and they were excellent – that kind of support is invaluable,” he said.
This year, due to Covid restrictions the OCF’s iconic Lollipop Day fundraiser couldn’t happen in its normal on-street format.
Lollipop Day would traditionally raise approximately €300,000 through public donations, which is used to facilitate pioneering research and to develop innovative treatments for early-stage oesophageal cancer patients.
The public is being asked to walk, run, cycle or swim 50k this October and to donate as little or as much as they can to help raise vital funding of €150,000.
Christine Littlefield, CEO of the Oesophageal Cancer Fund said: “Covid has dealt our fundraising a major setback over the past year but we can’t afford to be complacent with this aggressive cancer and we hope the public will get behind us this October to support our 50/50 Campaign.”
“Even a €5 donation helps make a difference, as it's the culmination of thousands of €5 donations that help give hope to patients nationwide.”
Public generosity to OCF fundraising over the past two decades has helped enormously in the fight against oesophageal cancer with survival rates showing a 50 per cent improvement in Ireland, positioning us fourth internationally in terms of survivorship.
However Irish Oesophageal Cancer rates remain among the highest in Europe, with approximately 450 new diagnoses of this aggressive cancer each year.
To find out more about the OCF, donate or get involved in the 50/50 campaign visit www.ocf.ie and follow us on social @oesophagealcancerfund #5050OCF