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"I wish I'd got checked earlier" -
cancer patient Shaun
12.05.14
by Linda McGrory
WHEN young civil engineer Shaun Doherty found two
lumps on his neck in January 2011 he thought he’d
pulled a muscle and shrugged it off.
The 24 year old Inishowen man, who had just secured
his dream job in London, was also losing weight and
was feeling stressed and run down.
But he was so busy with life and work on a new
construction site he ignored for the next eight
months symptoms that would turn out to be cancer.
“The aim was to work hard, climb fast and reap the
rewards. |
I found I no longer had
to watch what I ate and was staying skinny all the
time,” said Shaun who’s now 26.
“I was also feeling burned out but I would put it
down to a heavy Saturday night even though it might
be the following Thursday.
“I had found two large lumps in my neck but I put
these down to a sports strain from a skiing holiday
in January that never went away.”
He also had unbearably itchy legs that he would
scratch until they bled.
It was only while home on holiday in his native
Clonmany that his older sister Maria, a nurse, saw
something was amiss and urged him to get checked
out. |
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Shaun Doherty pictured before his
cancer diagnosis in 2011. |
Doctors at Letterkenny
General Hospital diagnosed Hodgkins lymphoma on
August 12, 2011, a condition Shaun has been fighting
ever since.
The disease was attacking his chest and neck and was
threatening to collapse his left lung and cut the
blood supply off from his brain.
Shaun, who enjoys playing guitar, currently lives at
home in Cleagh with mum Sarah and plumber dad Conal.
He also has a younger brother Paul. |
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Shaun, far right, celebrates brother
Paul's 21st birthday with dad Conal, mum Sarah and
sister Maria in Clonmany. |
He regularly travels to
Dublin’s St James's Hospital and has undergone many
gruelling treatments in the past two-and-a-half
years. These have included 12 cycles of
chemotherapy; 15 rounds of radiotherapy, seven
rounds of a new cancer drug as well as courses of
steroids. He has also undergone a transplant of stem
cells donated by his sister Maria, but sadly the
operation did not work.
Shaun's medical team are now inducing a condition
called ‘graft versus host disease’ where Maria’s
healthy cells are fighting the malignant cells in
the hope of eradicating the cancer. “I’m still in
treatment but I can’t complain. Life’s good.” He is
currently single as his cancer battle leaves little
“headspace” for a girlfriend.
He says the prognosis for Hodgkins lymphoma is
generally good even though he’s had a number of
setbacks along the way.
And he strongly urges others never to ignore unusual
health symptoms.
“I was living with those neck lumps and fatigue for
eight months. I would probably be back working in
London by now if I had got checked out straight
away.”
Meanwhile, a group of his friends will travel from
London for a 350km fundraising cycle from Galway to
Donegal on May 30. Their three-day ‘Tour for Shaun’
aims to raise awareness and funds for the Friends of
St Luke's Hospital and the Bone Marrow for Leukaemia
Trust at St James's Hospital. Shaun says both
charities are making his cancer battle immeasurably
more bearable. He also thanked everyone who has
supported him through his illness so far. If you
would like to make a donation,
click here
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