Linda's Story
“Don’t ignore symptoms. If you have trouble swallowing, or you get acid reflux or heartburn, get it checked out.”
When Linda O’Riordan McCarthy was diagnosed with oesophageal cancer in March 2022 at age 48, it came about after she experienced ongoing issues with swallowing food.
“In October 2021, I started having trouble swallowing,” says Linda. “If I was eating something like bread, it would keep catching in my throat and I’d start choking on it. By the end of that month, I was choking on everything.
“I went to my GP. I was very overweight at the time, and she said it was my weight, and I needed to manage my weight. I was miserable by that Christmas. I’d lost a lot of weight, and I was finding it hard to eat because I kept choking on everything. I was sent for a scan where they saw some fatty tissue, and again I was told I had to manage my weight.”
As she continued to struggle to eat, Linda returned to her GP and insisted on a referral to a consultant to get to the bottom of what was causing her issue. When she saw the consultant, she explained her issues with swallowing, and he sent her for an endoscopy.
"They took biopsies during the endoscopy, and then the consultant phoned me with the results a few days later. The consultant told me I had cancer, and that I’d to come meet him in hospital the following week and I should bring my family with me."
“So, we all went to the appointment, and the consultant was fantastic. He drew a diagram of where my tumour was and explained oesophageal cancer to us all. He said that I was facing have major surgery and a lot of treatment.”
Linda was then referred to Mr Thomas Murphy in the Mercy Hospital Cork to begin her treatment journey.
Shortly after this, Linda had a feeding tube put into her stomach so she could take on nutrients and underwent five weeks of chemotherapy and radiotherapy. She then had another endoscopy and had an esophagectomy and part of her stomach removed.
“I had the esophagectomy in August 2022, and at the end of the September the consultant told me that I was cancer free. I was blown away. It was a very positive feeling.
“My surgery was done in the Mercy in Cork, by one of the best surgeons in the country for treating oesophageal cancer. And the staff in the Mercy were second-to-none, I can’t fault them – they were all absolutely fantastic. I had a lot of support there.”
Linda went home after ten days in hospital following her surgery, but in the weeks after she felt unwell and was vomiting, so she went back to hospital.
“They found out that I had a hernia that had travelled to my diaphragm. So, I had surgery, then I woke up in the ICU , with a tube down my throat. So, I ended up having two major surgeries within seven weeks of each other.”
Linda still lives with the effects of her stomach and oesophageal surgeries, which have changed the way she eats.
“The mechanism of my oesophagus doesn’t work anymore,” she says. “I get sick a lot. My meals have to be soft and small. I basically have to eat like a baby, so it’s been lifechanging. It’s hard, but you get used to it.”
Linda is sharing her story to encourage people to get symptoms of concern checked out, and to show that there is hope after an oesophageal cancer diagnosis.
“I’m a very positive person,” says Linda. “I turned 50 two years ago, I got married again for the second time. Having cancer changes your whole perspective on life. My nutrition isn’t the best, because it’s still hard for me to eat, and I have to cope with my new way of life, but I’m in a good place now.”
