Paul's Story
“I remember when my oncologist said he had good news, he couldn’t see any cancer in my scans anymore. I was elated and emotional beyond belief, because a few months before, I was so sick that I’d pretty much given up.”
Paul Mooney, 58, from Lucan, Co. Dublin was diagnosed with head and neck cancer twice, first in 2019 and again in 2023. Before his first diagnosis, Paul noticed a lump in his neck but otherwise felt well.
“I’m the type of person where when I get colds or the flu, I usually get an ear infection and swollen glands,” says Paul. “I remember I got a lump on my neck, just below and forward from my ear. I thought it was swollen glands and that I was going to have a cold, but the cold never came.
“A few weeks later, the lump was still there and hadn’t gone away, and I happened to finish work early one day, so I decided to go to my GP. She gave me a letter to go to the Eye and Ear Hospital to get it checked out.”
Further tests revealed that Paul had a stage one head and neck cancer, and he remembers how it felt when he received the news.
“When I was told it was cancer, it felt like my whole world just collapsed. I wanted to use a lot of bad language, but then my thoughts were just focused on what I needed to do next.”
One of the key sources of information for Paul after he was diagnosed was an Irish Cancer Society booklet about head and neck cancer.
“I remember, after I was diagnosed, reading an Irish Cancer Society booklet on head and neck cancer,” says Paul. “I’d never heard of that cancer before I was diagnosed, it wasn’t one of the common ones everyone knows like breast or prostate.
“I remember it had really good tips for things like dry mouth, and it made me feel like I wasn’t alone. It made me realise that other people had been through this before.”
A week after his diagnosis, Paul underwent surgery. The lump and 19 lymph nodes around his neck were removed, and cancer was found in 13 of the lymph nodes. Paul had 66 doses of radiation and completed his treatment on the 18th of December 2019.
“Two or three weeks after Christmas was when I started to feel better,” says Paul. “After I finished treatment, I wasn’t eating, because everything tasted metallic, which was a side effect of the radiation.
"But by the end of January 2020, I remember I had a yogurt and there was no metallic taste from it, so I knew, then, that I was over the worst of it. My sense of taste started to come back really quickly from that point.”
All was going well until December 2023, when Paul developed a persistent cough. His GP prescribed him some medication, but when this didn’t work, he was referred back to hospital where a scan showed that he had a cloud on his lung.
“At this stage, I’d lost my voice, the coughing was constant, and the doctor reckoned there was a tumour pressing up against my vocal cords. He said my cancer was back, and even though it was on my lung, it was a head and neck cancer.”
In April last year, Paul was at an oncology appointment and, having already been feeling very unwell in the days before, he began to shake and throw up blood. He was swiftly rushed to A&E.
“They found that I had a collapsed lung and pneumonia. They drained my chest, and took out two litres initially, then a further 1.8 litres. They also found out that my vocal cord had split from left to right, that’s why I couldn’t talk. I wasn’t able to swallow properly because the cord was detached.”
During this time, Paul was also receiving chemotherapy and taking a hormonal treatment to treat his cancer. After his fourth chemotherapy session, he was at home when his heart began racing and he became breathless. He got an ambulance to the hospital, and they found the cancer had caused blood clots in his lungs. He was treated for this, but the same thing happened again after his fifth chemotherapy session.
“I had blood clots in my lungs again after my fifth chemo treatment, and when I was hospital for that I caught Covid,” remembers Paul. “It felt like everything in its power was trying to get me.”
However, in October 2024, Paul received the news that his scans showed no more signs of cancer in his body. Receiving this news was especially emotional for Paul, as only a few months before, he was struggling with his ongoing health problems.
“When I was in hospital with pneumonia, I didn’t watch telly, I didn’t want to read, I couldn’t eat and I couldn’t drink because I’d throw it all back up,” says Paul. “I lost interest in everything. It was probably the lowest I’d ever been.
“But then I remembered that quote from the Shawshank Redemption, ‘Get busy living or get busy dying’, and that motivated me, so I kept going and got busy living.”
Paul’s family and friends rallied around him during his treatment, and he credits their support as being an enormous source of strength as he was dealing with his diagnosis. Now doing well, Paul is sharing his story to encourage people to get any signs of concern checked out, and to know there is hope after a cancer diagnosis.
"If you notice any concerning changes in your body, get them checked out. Early detection is so important, and you don’t want to leave it too late. The earlier cancer is detected, the more treatment options you have."
“If you’ve been diagnosed with cancer, don’t overthink it, because you’ll drive yourself up the wall thinking about how and why you have cancer. Sometimes, it’s something that just happens.
“I’m still here, and year and a bit longer than I should have been, considering how sick I was. I’m still showing no signs of cancer on my scans, and it feels like every day I have is a bonus.”
