A debilitating nausea and serious weight loss is all part and parcel of cancer treatment, but one Galway man is taking up an eating challenge that he hopes will not only help him to put on some weight after his chemo, and also raise funds for charity in the process.
“Every cancer patient’s journey is different and the tribulations we face are varied. The most difficult thing I’ve had to deal with has been weight loss,” said 25-year-old Conor Lane, who lived in Galway City prior to moving to London to study a Masters in Television Journalism.
At six foot five inches, Conor currently weighs 74kg, which is the low end of a healthy weight for someone of his height. That’s thanks to four months of aggressive chemotherapy which lasted nine hours a day, three days a week, every three weeks.
“On May 18, 2016, soon after completing an internship at CNN London, I was diagnosed with Ewing’s Sarcoma. It’s a rare bone cancer that formed in my rib, and from my rib a six inch malignant tumour had developed next to my right lung. The tumour was about the size of a melon and I certainly wasn’t sure whether someone could survive something like that,” Conor explained.
Ewing’s Sarcoma is rare and presents most often in children and teenagers, according to Conor but “regardless of the age, it’s true when they say that being told you have cancer is one of the scariest things you could hear”.
When he was diagnosed, Conor was in the capable hands of the doctors and nurses at the Macmillan Cancer Centre who assured him that, despite the seriousness of his condition, they were looking to cure him with approximately nine months of treatment.
“I was shocked, of course, but I felt that I was in great hands. For most people, the idea of being told you have an enormous tumour in your chest is a nightmare, but the actual size of the tumour was inconsequential after being told that my cancer was localised,” he said, emphasising that this was in fact lucky for him – if the cancer had spread to another part of his body, his chances of survival would drop.
The Macmillan Cancer Centre has been taking phenomenal care of Conor and, in return, he has set up a fundraiser on JustGiving.com entitled #100DaysOfCalories, which will see him eating approximately 3,500 calories a day in an attempt to gain 10kg and raise money for a worthy cause.
“The idea behind our fundraiser was that there is no way we’ll ever be able to thank them enough for the help they’ve given me but we wanted to do something that would show how much we appreciate all that they’ve done. I had thought about wanting to do a fundraiser for a long time after I was diagnosed, but hadn’t been in good enough shape to do so,” said Conor
“I would like to be able to say that I’m aiming to run multiple marathons for Macmillan to raise money, a type of challenge that many people do, but being on chemo meant that was never going to happen at this time, so we had to think about what would be good for me.
“Maintaining weight is a big strain for a lot of people on chemo, so much so that they have to receive nutrients and fluids intravenously because otherwise they’d lose too much weight. The specialists were worried about me in the beginning because I lost a lot of weight suddenly, around 6kgs. It was something we had to reverse or else it was going to affect my treatment.
“The NHS provides free calorie shakes, little 125ml bottles that provide up to 300 calories per drink and I’ve been using them for months to help. I have been able to keep at a steady weight, sometimes fluctuating rapidly down and then back up again, depending on my condition.
“Chemo in the long run causes mucositis because it strips away the lining in your throat, making it impossible to eat with the pain. I had that several times and would sometimes go three or four days without being able to eat much solid food. So a weight gain challenge sounded ideal and tailor-made for me and my experience.”
It was Conor’s girlfriend of almost one year, Elisa Brugger who had the initial idea. The native of Brazil met Conor in January 2016 and said that the two quickly became inseparable. His diagnosis hit Elisa hard, but both have remained positive throughout the treatment.
“Trying to get Conor to eat more has definitely been a challenge. We’ve also had some sleepless nights at the emergency room and when he’s too weak to even stand up for long I have to do pretty much everything for him, but to be honest I really don’t mind any of that,” said Elisa.
“The hardest thing and also most important one is to keep it together emotionally. The truth is that everything about this is difficult, even being happy can be difficult, but if you can do that, everything else gets easier.”
So far, Conor and Elisa have raised 18% of their £10,000 goal for the #100DaysOfCalories challenge – and that’s just in the first week. The challenge has received a lot of support, and Conor will need all the encouragement he can get.
“I’ve never been a voracious eater to begin with, so it is definitely going to be difficult. I have to change my relationship with food. Food is normally something I’ve had when I needed, moreso than something I wanted,” he explained.
“Now that I need to eat around 3,500 calories for this challenge, I have to think about it a lot more often. And gaining 10kgs over the course of 100 days while on chemo, known for taking away your appetite and leading to a general feeling of unease and for some people, nausea, will require a good deal of effort.
“The outpouring of support from people for the challenge has been great. I’ve had a lot of people, who, when they learned of my diagnosis, wanted to help me and I couldn’t think of a way for them to do so. Now that I’m doing this challenge, they can really feel like they’re pushing me towards an important goal.”
■ To find out more about Conor’s story and to donate to the cause, visit JustGiving.