Phil’s Story:
Phil Smith with family and supporters at his fundraising cheque presentation.
In 2020, the appearance of a small cyst over his lip was the first sign for Cavan man, Phil Smith, of the cancer battle that lay ahead. Today, Phil shares his story to help us highlight World Head and Neck Cancer Day. He also chats about the wonderful fundraising efforts of his local community.
“It was just a small cyst on my lip on the left hand side of my face. I wasn’t really that bothered by it, but I got it checked by my local doctor – Dr. Fortune – just in case. She organised it’s removal and, after it was tested, I was told that it had been cancerous.
Everything cleared up quite quickly though and all seemed fine until the following year when a few lumps and bumps began to appear under my chin and ear. I was put on a course of tablets to treat them and that seemed to work a treat – they were almost all gone in six weeks.
There was one under the chin that was stubborn, however, and seemed to hang around, no matter what. I needed to have a biopsy, in fact I had four. Finally, it came back as confirmed – I had cancer of the jaw. Dr Fortune told me that Prof Fergal O’Duffy at the Mater would look after me. She explained an operation would be needed and he would take some bone from my leg to reconstruct my jaw – well, I nearly fell off the chair.
My surgery was scheduled for Jan 2022. In the two to three months leading up to it, the pain in my jaw was shocking. I’d never experienced anything like it. I was getting no more than one hour of sleep a night, I couldn’t eat, I honestly thought I was going to die. Heading up to the Mater for the Op with my son, I was saying to myself I’ll hardly be back that’s how terrible I felt.
Phil with the Foundation’s Community & Events Specialist, Angi McNulty
The operation took 12 hours. The cancerous area was removed, bone was taken from my lower leg to reconstruct my jaw and I had a skin graft from my upper leg to complete the job. When I came around, despite the tubes, etc., I felt instantly better – the pain was completely gone. I couldn’t praise the ‘Head and Neck’ team at the Mater enough, from the incredible talents of Prof O’Duffy to the care and support of Head and Neck nurse, Shauna Hurley, the work they did was immense.
Following the surgery, I had six weeks of radiotherapy at St Lukes and needed to be on crutches for nine weeks. But after that I was flying. By June I was taking on Croagh Patrick with my daughter, the leg was a bit sore, but I was so happy to be able to do it.
I started to think about how I might be able to ‘give back’ a little and planned for a small local fundraiser. Our GAA club Lavey has a walking track around the pitch, and I reckoned we could organise to do some laps of that on the 19 November, and see if a few friends and family could support. Well, I was overwhelmed with the response. I couldn’t get over how many people came through the gates to take part. The local community were just amazing, as they have been throughout my illness. All in all we raised €7,822.
I’m still up to the Mater for regular checkups, Prof O’Duffy is delighted with how well I’m doing. There’s scarring from the surgery and I’ve lost some of the feeling in my jaw, but honestly I couldn’t feel better. So much so that I’ve put back on the two stone I lost in the lead up to the surgery – I’m planning on walking Croagh Patrick again shortly to get back in shape 😊!
Phil Smith, Cavan
Phil is sharing his story to build awareness and highlight World Head and Neck Cancer Day on 27th July. You can support the Mater’s Cancer Care team by clicking the donate link below, selecting ‘World Head and Neck Cancer Day 2023’ from the drop down menu, and selecting your donation amount.
www.materfoundation.ie/donate/
