Cancer battler’s big hearted gesture for charity

When Gort man Brian Lynch got ‘a bit of heartburn’ one day in November, 2018, he bought a large bottle of Gaviscon to sort it.

The 52 year old painter from Tubber Road kept it in his van, and had it all drank within three weeks. But the pain remained.

“I kind of said to myself if it goes another week, I’d go as far as the doctor. I thought I had an ulcer. To make a long story short, on December 18 they told me I had stomach cancer,” recalled the father of three.

The prognosis wasn’t too bad initially, he felt. “They told me I was to get four rounds of chemotherapy, three quarters of my stomach removed, and four more rounds of chemo. I was looking at twelve months out,” said Brian, who is well known locally for his involvement in Gort Neighbourhood Watch.

But following another scan at Galway Clinic in January 2019, doctors discovered it was worse than originally feared. “They found (cancer in) lymph nodes in two other places, outside my stomach. So, I have cancer in three places,” he said.

A year later, and Brian is on the mend – and is planning a fundraiser for a charity close to his heart, Gort Cancer Support.

“It wasn’t long putting a half to my gallop,” he said of the cancer.

“I thought I’d just get the chemo, hop into the van and head off to work. Not a notion. It’s not the cancer that takes over, it’s the drugs.”

*Tickets for Brian Lynch’s Fundraising Concert in aid of Gort Cancer Support cost €15 for adults and €10 for children. 

See full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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