Corkman: The Mercy made me comfortable during the toughest time of my life

Antóine Cremin, 29, from Ballingeary, West Cork, who has recovered from testicular cancer, is a great supporter of the Mercy Hospital. He raises awareness when he can.

He’s been a supporter of the Mercy’s street collection and will be doing it again this year in Bantry.

When did his journey begin with the Mercy University Hospital?

“In the beginning of 2019, I was experiencing very bad back pain,” says Antóine, who is an electrician.

“I was out of work at the time ,and I had been to the physiotherapist.”

“I put it down to doing work or a football injury as at the time I was 24.”

“As the weeks went on, it got progressively worse and physio was not doing anything for it.”

Antóine had to do something.

“One Monday morning in early February, 2019, the pain got so bad that walking was a struggle, so I went to my GP who gave me pain relief and he sent me up to the Mater Private for an MRI the following morning.

“I went for the MRI, still in awful pain, and when I was on the way home from Cork my GP rang me and told me to turn around and go to A&E in CUH.”

Fast forward to the following day.

“After numerous tests and scans, I was diagnosed with testicular cancer,” says Antóine.

Things happened fast.

“That Friday, I had an operation to remove the tumour and went through sessions of radiotherapy for pain relief purposes.”

How did Antóine feel?

“When I came home to recover, it hit me. You assume the worst.”

There was a plan in place.

“In early April, I started chemotherapy under the care of Professor Derek Power and the excellent staff of St Therese’s Ward at the Mercy Hospital, Cork,” says Antóine.

St. Therese’s Ward became home-from-home for Antóine.

“I spent quite a few weeks in that ward, and I called it home for a long period of my illness, four months. The care I got was second to none. The nurses and staff there couldn’t do enough for me.

“My mum and dad were a great support too, as well as my brother, Gearóid.

“Towards the end of my chemo term, around the middle of July that year, I got a terrible clot in my arm as a result of the chemo,” says Antóine.

“This nearly resulted in the loss of my arm, and it was at that point I was at my lowest.

“The nurses in St Therese’s knew I was at my lowest, and to be honest, only for them keeping a close eye on me it could have been a whole lot different. I will forever be thankful to them, and I decided I would fund-raise for the hospital whenever I could to give something back.”

Antóine was on the up-and-up.

“I got over that and finished my last round of chemo and went home to start my recovery,” says Antóine.

He felt human again.

“I began to feel normal again and eventually had enough energy to slowly get back to work a few months later.”

But cancer wasn’t quite done with Antóine.

“In December, 2019, I went for a scan and unfortunately the cancer had come back,” says Antóine.

Things were not looking good.

January came and more tests and scans followed. I was facing another battle with chemo. 

Next thing Covid hit, and it was all thrown up in the air. They decided to do my chemo in the CUH as St Therese’s Ward had moved due to Covid and they would have been unable to keep me over the weekend.”

“So I started my chemo battle again in the CUH,” says Antóine.

“But the team at the Mercy were still at my beck and call.”

The doctors and nurses at the Mercy were Antóine’s go-to people.

“They were the people I went to if I needed anything,” he says.

“The staff at CUH were brilliant, don’t get me wrong, but I had built a relationship with the team at the Mercy, and they just knew me. 

I completed my chemo in July, 2020, and by August I was given the all-clear.

The special relationship Antóine had built with the team at the Mercy didn’t end there. Old friends are best.

“Derek Power and his team kept a close eye on me, and it is always nice to pop into St Therese’s Ward and say hello,” says Antóine.

“We have a great relationship.”

Antóine bounced back from cancer with the help of old friends and his family.

“I have no complaints. Life is good. I’m working away. I go for six month check-ups with Derek Power and my GP, Joan Lynch, is fantastic.”

The Mercy Hospital will always figure in Antóine’s life.

“The Mercy made me comfortable during the toughest time of my life,” says Antóine. “It was a great consolation, and I will be forever thankful.”

Funds raised this year during the Mercy Heroes Campaign, on Friday, October 20, will go directly to the Teens and Young Adult Appeal, which supports young patients of the Hospital through the challenges that serious illness brings. See www.mercyhospitalfoundation.ie