Darren McMahon was just 22 when he noticed a lump at the side of his neck beside his collarbone.
“I was living in London at the time and I did the typical man thing and didn’t worry about it. I thought it might be a cyst,” he recalls.
It was only when he returned home and the other symptoms suddenly hit him. He had lost a lot of weight, had a loss of appetite and experienced night sweats. It was three months before he finally saw his GP.
After a blood test, he was set for a keyhole biopsy, which proved inconclusive. After a fortnight the whole lump in his neck was removed. It was just before Christmas and he was invited to the oncology unit in Limerick to get the results.
“I had thought it might be glandular fever, I never thought cancer because of my age. But I put two and two together and guessed it was cancer when I got that letter.”
He remembers his parents were both silent on the way home after the diagnosis that he had Stage 3 Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.
“I remarked that these were the worst results since my Leaving Cert and we laughed. We all kept up good spirits after that.”
He had his first chemotherapy session on Christmas Eve 2010. Initially he managed the gruelling regime of drugs fine but then the chronic fatigue set in and he lost his hair and his eyebrows.
“That was tough because that’s when you start to look sick. I had 17 tumours in my chest and neck. I was told it would take eight months for the chemotherapy and then I had a CT full body scan in St James in Dublin and they could see how well I was reacting to the chemo so I finished two months early.”
After studying in Athlone and Cork as a graphic designer, the native of Ennis now lives and interns in Galway city centre. In remission since 2011, next May will be his five-year clear mark, which will mean his regular hospital appointments will move to yearly checkups.
Darren is the kind of patient who would benefit from the new blood cancer research unit which was opened by the Minister for Skills, Research and Innovation Damien English yesterday (Wednesday).
The Blood Cancer Network Ireland (BCNI) is a national collaborative cancer research initiative funded by the Irish Cancer Society and Science Foundation Ireland and supported by the pharmaceutical industry.
This new clinical research network based at NUIG’s Lambe Institute for Translational Research on the grounds of University Hospital Galway will see Irish blood cancer patients be among the first in the world to test new drugs and treatments. The network will further knowledge and understanding of blood cancers through a new biobank and registry.
An investment of €2.2m will facilitate research into drugs which may mean that some patients no longer have to undergo punishing chemotherapy
Director of Blood Cancer Network Ireland, Professor of Haematology at NUIG, Michael O’Dwyer said the investment will have many potential benefits.
“It will make Ireland internationally competitive in blood cancer research, increase access to expensive medicines free of charge with consequent savings to the taxpayer, enhance research and development in Ireland, contribute to job creation, and most importantly of all, benefit patients.”
Head of Research at the Irish Cancer Society, Dr Robert O’Connor, said this research would make a real difference in patients’ lives.
As a result of the chemotherapy he underwent, Darren has 60% of his previous lung capacity and a number of small heart problems.
“This new centre will make the whole process less daunting. A lot of people think cancer is a death sentence but there are so many new treatments out there.”
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