Brave Brogan basks in life of normality after cancer battle

Lifestyle – Judy Murphy meets a family whose lives were turned upside down by child’s diagnosis

People would say to me ‘I don’t know how you coped, but the fact is you have no choice,” says Etain Wilson whose son Brogan was diagnosed with cancer at the age of two and a half.

His diagnosis was the prelude to two years’ intensive treatment at Our Lady’s Hospital for Sick Children’s Hospital in Crumlin before Brogan, from Athenry, was given the all-clear.

“For two years, life was a rollercoaster of checks and treatments and tests. Before he got sick, we never knew about Crumlin,” says his father, John Cloonan.

Six years on, eight-year-old Brogan is a healthy youngster who is obsessed with sport – he plays football, Gaelic football and soccer, is an avid cyclist and swimmer, takes part in triathlons and is learning taekwondo.

But getting here wasn’t simple, as Etain and her husband John explain. The Athenry couple also have two older boys, Cian and Darragh, who are now 13 and 10.

Etain is originally from Dublin and John is a local man – after marrying, they moved to America, but came home when their children were born, settling in Athenry close to John’s family. He had worked as an engineer in the US but re-trained and worked as a teacher after returning home, while Etain was a fulltime home-maker.

Brogan was about two when he went through a phase of not eating and being generally off-form. Etain and John initially thought it might be due to teething or toilet training, but as it dragged on they became increasingly concerned.

“When I’d bring either of the other two to the doctor for their check-ups or if they were sick, I’d mention that he wasn’t right,” says Etain. “But he hadn’t been really sick – he was just a bit off. And he’d been on antibiotics, so we thought it was just that he was a bit low in himself.”

Then Brogan developed a tumour in his throat. He was sent to UHG and straight away, the Galway hospital referred him to Crumlin.

“We knew it was serious then,” says his mother.

In Crumlin, Brogan was examined by an ear, nose and throat specialist, who sent them directly to the oncology department. After further tests, they started chemotherapy immediately.

He had Stage 4 Lymphoblastic Lymphoma, which meant the cancer, which started in the lymph nodes, had spread and there were tumours on his brain, throat and kidney.

However, the prognosis was good, in that most children who get proper treatment at an early stage survive this type of cancer.  There was a long road ahead involving two years of chemo, but Etain and John were told the treatment would be staged. They were kept in the loop, but never overloaded with information.

“If you knew all that was ahead, it would be overwhelming,” explains John.

Their second son Darragh had been due to start school the following week. Only a few days before, that had been Etain’s and John’s main focus. Now, life had been turned upside down.

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.