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IN JULY LAST year Shannen Bulman Joyce was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. She was just 19 at the time.
Shannen said the diagnosis came as “an awful shock”.
She found a lump in late May or early June but said: “I fobbed it off because I play camogie so I always have bumps and bruises.”
Then the pain started. Shannen said she struggled to sleep as she was sweating and vomiting with an ongoing pain in her groin.
Her doctor initially thought she had inflamed lymph nodes and prescribed antibiotics. When the pain became unbearable she went to a different doctor who sent her to A&E at the Mercy University Hospital in Cork.
As she left for the hospital, the doctor told her:
‘You’ve no need to worry because cancer isn’t painful. You’ve no need to worry about the big C’ – that’s exactly what he said, I’ll never forget it.
Within two weeks, she was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.
Shannen underwent a bone marrow biopsy, 18 weeks of chemotherapy and – at one point – was taking 26 tablets a day.
She described chemo as “torture”.
Shannen said the local community in Youghal rallied around her family, noting her parents “couldn’t walk down the street without getting tapped on the shoulder by someone asking how I was”.
Shannen is going to run the Cork Marathon on 1 June, as part of one of nine relay teams running in aid of the Mercy Hospital Foundation. She hopes to run five miles, while her father Ken is doing the entire race.
They’re hoping to raise €16,000 to buy 11 recliners for chemotherapy patients – they have reached about €6,000 so far.
“The support, care and understanding that I received from the staff at the Mercy, on what was the toughest journey of my life, was phenomenal,” Shannen said
I was looked after so well, not only in St Therese’s Ward, but also in a number of other wards including St Anne’s that I spent time in at one point. It wasn’t just me they looked after though, they also helped my family through it.
Shannen, who is studying Recreation and Leisure in CIT, is now encouraging others to take part in the marathon in aid of the Mercy.
Online entries are closed but people can still enter via the post. More information is available here.
Micheál Sheridan, Mercy Hospital Foundation CEO, said the organisation’s mission is to “support the hospital in delivering the highest quality of patient care by raising funds to support advancements and innovation in the treatment and care of patients”.
“This is only possible through the help of our supporters and donors, like Shannen’s family and friends,” Sheridan added.
If you want to donate to the Mercy click here.
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Well done brave lady
The Mercy is an excellent hospital. It’s aged and underfunded but the expertise and care is top class
I agree its old and under funded but also under staffed. The staff there are excellent and I speak from experience where we had someone in the family with cancer and the care they ‘received was excellent.
You want to tell me there’s a God in this world when you hear how people suffer like this? If he does exist he’s one horrible human being.
While it is clear this girl has suffered thankfully she has now come through it. As a result the work she is now doing is inspiring and should be of great comfort and hope to those beginning on their cancer journey- a journey which is not a sprint but a marathon.
Niall..
Sadly, suffering is part and parcel of life. My own dear brother died from cancer, a very young man and he suffered a lot of pain. He was in a hospice in the final weeks of his life and the love and care he received brought us all together and we experienced such peace as he passed away that we were left in no doubt that God was with us in our pain.
It’s so easy blame God for the bad stuff and when we are sick but do you ever thank Him for your health?
Niall,
This thread is not the place to have a go at religion. Go away you gobşhite.
Great comment Sinead.
I watched something very similar myself, the memories of which will stay with me forever.
I thought cancer is often very painful depending on the type. Cancer spreading into your bones is painful.
Jack that’s true but the pain can be controlled with medication although that’s not always the case .
That’s very true suzie. It can’t all be controlled. After watching someone very close to me die from cancer I know that they try their best to control it but they are up against one very powerful and horrible disease.
Is it my imagination, or are doctors less knowledgeable than they used to be? Seem to be hearing about a lot of misdiagnoses these days. ..
Speaking from experience cancer is painful but the chemo is just horrendous what it does to you. I still get upset even thinking about it. Thankfully 3 half years clear now. Onwards and upwards
Is there an atheist in the house. You have to have something in your life to turn to.
I am.
What did I turn to? Science. Science has painfully dug away at understanding the human body, from the brave people who risked their lives to rob graves all the way through to the teams of researchers painstakingly going through the statistics of the latest trial. Now we can beat cancer more often than we lose.
I won’t deny anyone their comforts where they can find them. But science works. And I’m still alive.
Me too
Her original doctor sending her off with a prescription for anti-biotics for swollen lymph-nodes. That’s malpractice IMO. Surely a scan was in order.
Minister for Soundbites , Varadkar announced the setting up of a National Cancer Steering Group Today .
Well whoop de dooo . Any Journal coverage on this ?
have your say