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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.
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.
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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