Hi all, 

In September of 2022 I was diagnosed with a malignant carcinoid tumour in my right lung. This is a rare form of lung cancer with no clear cause. No one wants this news, but in a way it made sense of symptoms I had been experiencing for some time, and there was some relief in knowing this. It also came with that rare thing in cancer - a clear route to a cure. 

Obviously the time leading up to this diagnosis was a frightening time for my family and me, as we set our normal conversations aside and became adept at the language of PET scans, bronchoscopies and more. It all moved very fast to diagnosis and setting out a plan to try and resolve the problem. I was operated on by Dr Ronan Ryan and his team in James Hospital in late October. I lost two lobes of the lung, but they got all the tumour. The process left me weak and in pain but with the ability to work back to full health. My colleagues in Kingston, Clancy Moore and the Arts Council were incredibly understanding. In the months since then I have made a great recovery. In late December I learned that I am cured, and am cancer free - with a very low possibility of its return. So I can resume focus on less important things than life and death. This is thanks to the skills of the surgical team, and the incredible nurses, doctors, physios, support staff and fellow patients in the Keith Shaw Ward. 

Part of why I am putting this personal information out there is that reading this might help others who get bad news like this one day. The support of my family, friends and colleagues has been extraordinary. Not all people get such straightforward interactions with cancer, and I feel incredibly lucky. The fact that I can say I am cured and have recovered is down to decades of medical research, and the training and empathy of those that treated and cared for me.

The body is amazing. Even though I lost a lot of lung I am delighted (and slightly astonished) to be able to get back running - even if I am slower and puffing far harder than before! To show my thanks to those that cared for me I am running a half marathon in Connemara in late April to raise sponsorship for St James Hospital - the national centre of excellence where I was looked after.If you can spare a euro or two please do donate. Money raised will be used by the hospital to help the Keith Shaw Ward - where patients getting lung and heart operations are cared for. I can testify that it will be incredibly valuable. 

Thanks all!

Andrew