Survivor Profile: Gavin's Story

Why he proudly wears purple! 

“In July 1998, I was diagnosed with Stage 4 (of 5) Wilms Tumour. It had spread to my lungs, my stomach and was near my hepatic portal vein. The way I was diagnosed was I broke a tooth eating a bowl of cereal. I somehow managed to bite the spoon instead of the cereal, genius, I know. I went to the local dentist, but was too afraid of him to allow him to remove the tooth. Because of this I was sent to the Bons Hospital in Cork to have it removed. The day ward was full so I was admitted, the plan being that I would be in for a few hours then gone again. The doctor admitting me happened to be an intern, so he asked if he could have the practice of doing a routine check. For those of you who don’t know, my mother is a nurse so she told him work away. During the routine admissions check he found a lump on my left kidney. So they put me under and removed my tooth, with plans to take a look at the kidney after I woke up. I woke up once the general anaesthetic wore off, they did a few tests and then the doctors asked to see my mom

I should say at this stage that I was totally asymptomatic; apart from I used to sweat a bit at night.

I was admitted to St. John’s Ward of Crumlin Hospital along with 5 other kids (ill discuss this later), under DR.O’ Meara, and pretty much straight away I started on chemotherapy for a 9 week stint. I was put on Vincristine, Actinomycin D and Doxorubicin. For those of you who haven’t been on chemo, I think the best way of describing it is like being hit by a truck, while losing weight, vomiting, losing all of your hair, having no energy and at the same time your bones feel like they are on fire. You get sores in your mouth. Constantly trying to stay positive all the while it is destroying your body and this was just the first 9 weeks! To help with the delivery of the chemo a Hickman line, affectionately called “Freddie” was inserted into my chest. Chemo takes hours to deliver into the body, which is fine if you are an adult but children get bored very easily. I can’t remember how many times I read Harry Potter! Chemotherapy has thankfully come a long way since the days of nitrogen mustard and now they can tailor treatment to suit the patient.

My hair started to fall out pretty much straight away, despite all the old tricks that everyone tried like getting me to sleep on a silk pillow etc. I personally liked having no hair, as I had ridiculously crazy curly hair but the nausea is indescribable, and the weight loss was ridiculous. I weighed in at two and a half stone the day of the operation, that’s roughly 38lbs! It was very hard being a kid and watching all my school friends playing rugby, soccer etc. and not being able to join in. I remember clearly the hours and hours that I spent in the hospital, I could probably navigate the ward with my eyes closed at that stage. Thankfully there was a playground and, more importantly as far as I was concerned, a TV in the room.

After 9 weeks of chemo came what is called a nephrectomy, which is when they remove the kidney, in my case the left one. The removal of a major organ like a kidney is not a simple undertaking, but thankfully my operation went quite smoothly but I am left with the long term implications of living with one kidney to this day.  In 2011, I finally got the all clear, and that is when I found out about Relay.  As a cancer survivor it can be quite difficult to come to terms with what happened to me, Relay for Life, I found, was this amazing way of coming to terms with what happened. At Relay you get a chance to celebrate being a survivor, you get a safe quiet place to grieve for those lost and a place to help others reduce their risk of cancer.

Wearing the purple survivors t-shirt is one of the most powerful things I have ever done, and it never gets any less powerful no matter how many times I do it. At Relay you can be a beacon of hope for those who have just been diagnosed, for those who are on a longer journey, and to their family and friends. By wearing the purple t-shirt, and identifying yourself as a survivor, you might help someone to open up about their experiences, maybe for the first time. At Relay, a survivor is anyone who has been diagnosed with cancer, whether 5 minutes or 50 years ago, just as long as they define themselves as a survivor.”

This is just another reason why I Relay. Why will YOU Relay on 20-21 July?

To register as a survivor to join us and walk the first lap of the first ever Survivors' Lap at Relay for Life Kilkenny, contact Joanne Brennan, Survivors' Chair at joanne@homephysio.ie