'I was told to get my affairs in order': Art imitating life, as Paschal prepares to play patient on Cork stage

Eleven years ago, Cork man Paschal O’Leary received the stark news that he had stage 4 lymphatic cancer.

The diagnosis came after he had suffered abdominal pain while staying in a hotel overnight in Dublin on his way to a work trip in Sweden. A trip to the Mater Private Hospital confirmed his worst fears.

“I was told to get my affairs in order and that I’d never work again,” says Paschal, an amateur actor.

However, five years later, Paschal was told he had been cured.

It is a remarkable medical success story and his case is often cited by his oncologist when he addresses conferences on the disease as far away as America.

Paschal, 66, is also working away again, and has just landed a starring role in the play Calendar Girls, produced by Rebel City Drama Club, which will be performed at the Nano Nagle Theatre, Ballyphehane, later this month.

And Paschal, who is from Connaught Avenue in Cork city, is coincidentally playing a character who has cancer in the play.

Based on the 2003 hit comedy film, Calendar Girls is a true story about a group of middle-aged Yorkshire women who produced a nude calendar to raise money for Blood Cancer UK under the auspices of the Women’s Institute after the husband of one of their members dies from cancer. The original film starred Helen Mirren, Julie Walters and Geraldine James, to mention just a few of the stars.

The stage version in Cork is directed by Cathie Cowhig, who cast Paschal as John Clarke without knowing that he had been through cancer.

Paschal says that his experience of the illness is helping him bring authenticity to the role he is playing.

He stresses that the show is a comedy, adding that he only wants to act in comedies.

Paschal says when he looked in the mirror the morning after the grim cancer diagnosis, he looked “about 80. My face was white and thin. I assumed it was because of the cancer. But it was just the shock.

“The pain had been there a few days before the hospital visit.

“I stayed in the Mater Private for about three nights and then came home and went to the Bons.

“At that stage, I was like someone who was eight months pregnant. Dr Brian Bird (consultant oncologist) said he had never seen so much lymphoma in his life.”

Lymphatic cancer, or lymphoma, is a type of blood cancer that develops in the lymphatic system - a major network of vessels, tissues and glands that function as a core component of the germ-fighting immune system.

When lymphoma occurs, white blood cells mutate, grow uncontrollably, and fail to die off as normal cells do, eventually gathering in the lymph nodes and forming tumours.

The only hope for Paschal was to have chemotherapy infused everywhere including injections into the spine which go to the brain.

“I was given four different chemo drips, 23 hours a day, six days a week with two week breaks for about six months,” he recalls.

“Chemo is very tiring. They give your steroids at the same time to keep you awake.

“I had been told that in order to survive, I had to have intensive chemo. I had no choice.”

Paschal, who describes himself as a landlord and an occasional amateur actor as well as a member of Toastmasters, added: Chemotherapy can get a bad rap.

“Telling people that chemo is going to make you tired is not really helpful. Ok, you get tired, but you can go to bed for an hour.”

But the treatment can be tough going.

“When the lymphoma was burned off, there were holes in my lungs, my intestine and I’m not sure where else. They all healed except for the holes in my intestine.”

As if he hadn’t been through enough, Paschal got sepsis, a life-threatening infection.

“I was in intensive care for a while and was in hospital for the bones of a year, recovering.”

But Paschal wasn’t content to stay in his hospital bed. He was anxious not to lose too much muscle. He walked all around the hospital, often with his chemotherapy drip attached.

He lifted weights from his bed and did resistance exercises on his legs.

“When I didn’t have the chemo drip attached, I was gone like a rocket,” he says. “I’d walk in the hospital corridors for hours.

“I think it’s absolutely crazy that there are no gyms in hospitals. It seems like the medical people don’t care about exercise. But I did see a dietician in hospital and a physiotherapist who was great, but with no facilities. She got me to walk up and down stairs.”

Paschal lost about 14kg, but is back to his normal weight now. Did he ever feel close to death?

“Yeah, big time. When I got to accept death, it made life very easy. I was happy. I felt sorry for my family (wife, Marion and offspring, James and Erin in their thirties) being worried about me. I wasn’t worried about myself.

“I’ve always been sceptical about positive thinking. I’m positive only because I’m doing something about (my health).

“I’m a realist – and the star pupil of my oncologist. He was happy to see my weights in the hospital.”

Paschal sings the praises of Cork ARC Cancer Support, for which collections will be held at each performance of Calendar Girls.

He loved doing art therapy through the charity and also enjoyed doing gentle Pilates, organised by Cork Arc.

Eleven years on, Paschal’s story is truly inspiring.

Calendar Girls is at the Nano Nagle Theatre, Ballyphehane, from November 20-22.