Darmodys

Jack and Tim Darmody: 'There were two people in the house with cancer at the same time. That was difficult'

Cancer can affect anyone, a point most poignantly illustrated by the remarkable story of teenager Jack Darmody and his dad Tim who each went through their own cancer experience at the same time last year.

Indeed, it was secondary school student Jack for whom the alarm bells were first raised when in December 2020 at the age of just 15 he required emergency surgery for an issue that would eventually result in a diagnosis of testicular cancer.

“I had a testicular torsion and it was very painful and dangerous, I remember being on the ground holding my stomach, with a sharp pain in my right side. My parents initially thought it might have been my appendix,” recalls Jack, whose first brush with hospital was sandwiched in between his 15th birthday and New Year’s Day.

“The swelling was meant to go down after surgery, but it didn’t. I said I’d give it a few more weeks to shrink but after some time it still hadn’t so it was beginning to look like a problem then. I consulted with my dad and he said I should go to hospital.

“I was brought into Crumlin emergency room shortly before Easter and they did a bunch of tests on me. I ended up spending the night there with my mom sleeping on the floor and me sleeping on a trolley bed. The next day they brought my mum out separately to tell her it was a tumour, and that it would have to be removed.

“I didn’t know that testicular cancer even existed until I was told that day. It was quite shocking knowing I had a tumour,” says Jack.

As if it weren’t trying enough for dad Tim to see his son going through cancer, he himself had been undergoing testing for some suspicious results that showed up from a routine checkup with his doctor.

“We had every test you could imagine over the course of 10 days, and it was very traumatic for all of us, our house was thrown into what I would call a managed chaos,” says the 56-year-old from Dublin.

“I remember the day I came home to Melissa with the news that the consultant had said it was cancer and it needed dealing with. I think that was one of those defining days, a bit like Jack on Good Friday. There were two people in the house with cancer at the same time, so that was difficult.”

A course of chemotherapy for Jack after his surgery in April was quickly followed by Tim’s surgery last August. Thankfully both father and son have recovered reasonably well after a difficult few months, with Tim crediting his son’s resolve, as well as invaluable support from mum Melissa, daughter Maria and granny Barbara. Indeed the entire Darmody family played back up support, including the many aunts who are wonderful bakers.

“Jack was always fantastic. He really took ownership of it,” reflects Tim proudly.

For such a young man having been through a traumatic experience with cancer, Jack never lacked a sense of perspective for those he saw around him in hospital at the time.

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The treatment felt very long at the time, but my nurse specialist told me of other children in there with leukaemia who would be there for a year or two, babies and little kids with all sorts of cancers, so I felt I was lucky that my treatment went quite quickly.

Jack Darmody
Darmodys 4

Since then, Jack has been busy earning his transition year Gaisce award and raising thousands of euro in support of men’s health.

Dad Tim is in no doubt as to the most valuable takeaway from their shared experiences of the last year: “I feel it’s a good news story. We discuss everything in our family and it’s all left out there, warts and all. The important thing is to talk, and we feel it’s our job now to tell people about it.”

Daffodil Day 2022

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Contact the Irish Cancer Society Support Line

If you have worries or concerns about cancer, you can speak confidentially to an Irish Cancer Society Cancer Nurse through the Freephone Support Line on 1800 200 700.

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