IT HAPPENED TO MEIn just over two weeks, surgeon Oliver Clintontravelled to America, had a brain tumour removed and returned home to Ireland to recover
AT 1.58pm on a Thursday in May 2000 I was walking into the outpatients clinic in Roscommon County Hospital were I work as a general surgeon. I was on time for work and everything was rosy. Then I got a grand mal seizure (an epileptic fit).
It was so violent that not only did I dislocate my shoulder I also fractured it.
I was managed very well at the hospital by consultant physician Dr Pat McHugh, who realised that it was likely I had a brain tumour.
That night I was transferred to Beaumont Hospital in Dublin by ambulance. I don't remember any of this because I was heavily sedated.
At Beaumont, under the care of neurosurgeon Mr Daniel Rawluk, I had an MRI and it revealed that there was a large tumour in my frontal left lobe. There was concern that it may affect my speech because it was close to Broca's area, which is involved in language processing.
I underwent an open biopsy and Prof Michael Farrell, a consultant neuropathologist, confirmed that it was a grade three oligodendro astrocytoma, which means a mixed tumour.
A large cortical vein over the tumour made removal very difficult. At the time, services were not as well developed as they are now and very little stereotactic surgery was being done in Ireland. Ultimately, Mr Rawluk said that the removal was not possible.
So the question for me was where could I get it removed?
After much research on the internet, with the help of my family, I decided that man was Patrick J Kelly, a neurosurgeon in New York University Medical Centre, who had lots of experience in this area.
All the time my performance status was very good, meaning that I was able to do the activities of daily living. I was always able to get up, get dressed and get around, although my right arm was very painful because of the fractured shoulder.
We had the films sent over to Mr Kelly and subsequently I travelled to New York on September 6th. I stayed with relatives who lived in New Jersey. My wife drove me the 40 miles to and from the hospital.
I first went in as a day patient and had an MRI scan, a CT scan and angiogram. The following day, Tuesday, September 12th, the operation took place. It lasted for five and a half hours.
They removed as much of the tumour as they could see. I spent two nights in the neurosurgery intensive care unit and a further night on a ward. I was discharged and stayed one night in hospital accommodation where the on-call doctors stay.
I went back to see Mr Kelly and he was happy for me to return to New Jersey. I returned to the hospital to find out what the pathology of the tumour was and returned to Ireland on Friday, September 22nd - just over two weeks after I had left.
The cost of going to the US for treatment was astronomical. My brother and his wife re-mortgage their house for £25,000 so I could just get into the hospital in New York. It cost £1,400 a night to stay in the intensive care unit.
On my return, I underwent sensitising chemotherapy at St Vincent's hospital. I was very sick with the chemotherapy and I required extra doses of antiemetics (anti-nausea drugs). This was followed by radiotherapy in St Luke's under the care of Prof John Armstrong.
I stayed at St Luke's during the radiotherapy and, because there is a good rail connection to Roscommon, I was allowed to travel home at the weekends.
After the treatment, I attended a cancer recovery programme based on a book written by Dr Sean Collins and Rhoda Draper. I travelled to Dún Laoghaire every Tuesday for 12 weeks.
It was for people who had potentially life-threatening tumours and involved life analysis and life-affirming exercises.
I have annual MRIs in Charlemont Clinic in Dublin under Raymond Murphy.
I returned to work but I was not allowed to go back to surgery. Now I work three days a week in Roscommon County Hospital and Portiuncula Hospital in Co Galway as a tutor to surgeons. I work in research in Sligo General Hospital for two days. I have a full schedule.
I am 55 years old now. When I first got sick I was 48 with four young sons under the age of 10. I was horrified when it happened.
I was sure I was going to die. I remember waking up early in the morning seeing my wife Alexandra sleeping beside me and wondering how she could sleep when I was going to die. I felt alienated from everyone.
It was not until I spoke to a friend of mine, Mr Raj Shukla in London, who said, "Oliver, we will just have to get you cured," that I thought about the possibility of living. That is why we started researching other alternatives to Ireland.
I feel that I have lived for another eight years due to the surgeon in the States. Services were better there because they have a much larger population and, as such, more experience.
I am a very lucky man. I continue to take anti-epilepsy medication and this reminds me that there is always a risk it will return, but I put up with that and I don't let it affect me in any material way.
Brain tumour: the symptoms
Primary brain tumours are rare. It is estimated that 350-420 people in Ireland develop brain tumours each year.
Unlike tumours in other parts of the body, little is known about the cause of primary brain tumours.
Some are known to be associated with certain inherited conditions such as neurofibromatosis and tuberous sclerosis.
The signs and symptoms of a brain tumour depend on where in the brain they are located. Most people will suffer from a combination of the following signs and symptoms - headache, visual problems, speech difficulties, memory loss, weakness/paralysis, vomiting, seizures or personality changes.
The majority of patients with brain tumours will undergo some form of surgery during treatment.
• Taken from Coping with a Brain Tumour - a Guide for Patients and their Families published by Beaumont Hospital