Anita’s Post: October 2018 About Ian

My first Blog ever. And it’s Ian that has inspired this.

When Ian first created this blog site he placed me in as an Administrator so that the blog could continue. I’m also here to moderate the site and promote awareness.

A little history here first – I met Ian on The 4th of July 2000 in a pub he owned in Lanzarote

I was on holidays with my parents but returned back to the Island to stay with Ian. This was a very successful pub. In Nov 2004 we got engaged and Ian had returned to business in Ireland, we have been together ever since.

Some people will say we have been through hell since Ian was first diagnosed on my birthday 14th Feb 2014 but in reality we have not. Yes the prognoses has been bad and Ian was placed as terminal 3 times since then but he has survived and has helped so many more. He has maintained this blog in an honest and direct way that has achieved a total of 9,010 visitors since May 2017. From my side I had no idea what to expect, we seriously planned for the worst but as you have read we got the best. Ian had his moments particularly with the first temper issues that was resolved fast, but through some miracle he was able to take the ABVD and work, even after the first terminal prognoses following Radiotherapy in Dec 2014 his attitude remained “Not gonna happen honey” given six weeks to live and coming out with a statement like that just shows his positive attitude. Even after the relapse in 2017 his attitude was “I’m gonna take Hodgkin’s to hell and bury it there” and I can assure you thats exactly what he done. In November 2017 when we meet with the oncologist I actually thought the guy was going to kiss Ian he was that happy. Ian shocked the teams with his “Can do attitude” and “together we can beat this”. During all types of Chemotherapy Ian lost his hair and this was the only real tell tail sign that he was fighting cancer with the exception of the day I collected him from Dublin following the 21 days he had spent in St James in July 2017 for the Stem Cell Transplant. He was smiling when he opened the door in his Mum’s house to greet me, but he had lost 14kgs in weight, his face was drawn, he was pale and completely bald. He looked like he had actually been to hell and back. A month later his hair had started to regrow, his colour had returned and he had gained weight. By the time we met the Oncologist in Nov 2017 he was already studying as he knew the team would not allow him to work. You see I was there when the doctor told Ian he had 6 weeks to live in Dec 2014 he walked out and looked me straight in the face and said “that’s not going to happen” I was there when he was officially placed in remission in Feb 2016 I was there when people made empty promises about business in Dec 2016 I remember him saying afterwards “don’t believe a word he just said, he is lying” I was there in March 2017 when Ian relapsed and was told he had a 5% chance of surviving till June 2017 but I was not in St James when Ian was told for the third time that he was terminal as Ian was in high dependency quarantine with no immune system and zero blood count, but I was his only call when he was told to make any call he needed to make, his words were “I’m going to beat this” and he did

To date this is what he has achieved outside of beating Cancer twice

Diploma’s all with distinction

• Business Management & Accounts (DipMgmt)
• Human Resource Management (DipHRM)
• Supply Chain Management (DipSCM)
• Project Management Professional (DipPMP)
• Leadership Management
• Operations Management
• Transport Management
• Warehouse Management
• Customer Service Management
• Health & Safety Management
• Advanced Sales Management
• Six Sigma & Lean Process Management
• Sage 50 Advanced

Now that’s the business end these are the Psychology Diplomas

• Advance Psychology (DipPsych)
• Depression Psychology
• Psychology of Success
• Team Leadership & Motivation
• Cancer Awareness

And these are the certificates

• Certificate of Professional Competence Road Haulage (CPC)
• GDPR Certified
• ISO9001 Certified
• Supply Chain Management
• Certified Information System Security Professional (CISSP)
• Public Speaking
• Stress Management
• Mental Health Awareness
• Key Account Management
• Manual Handling
• Six Sigma Green Belt
• HACCP
• Security Awareness  11.2.6.2 Airport Security
• Food Safety Transport
• Driver Techniques
• Licensed Retail BIIAB
• Business Administration

And the Achievements

• Member of the Institute of Logistics & Transport Ireland (MiLT)
• Peace Commissioner (P.C)

That’s a total of 18 Diplomas, 17 Certificates and 2 Life achievements  – everything in brackets donates an abbreviation after his name. It looks something like this:

Ian Doherty P.C., MiLT, DipMgmt, DipSCM, DipHRM, DipPMP, DipPsych, CISSP, CPC

His first third level qualification was in 1982 followed by his CPC in 1986. His appointment as a Peace Commissioner was in 2008.

But unknown to me his business diplomas were all aimed at what he has called his ultimate qualification. There are 13 business related diplomas. Ian could not afford the cost or time to study for a degree (his medical team would definitely have said no) as it would take up to five years to qualify, so he took a diploma course which consisted of 12 modules (all part of the 13 diplomas he has) he needed a minimum of 1200cpa he gained 1,500CPA with diplomas and certificate courses – so last Monday he sat his MBA Diploma and passed with 100%. Ian has refused to enter this on his resume.

He walks some 10,000 steps a day to keep physically fit.

So for the companies out there that are going around bitching about not been able to find managers in Ireland all I have to say is REALLY! !!

Just a few more facts about Ian. Ian was born in 1962, to a working class family in Artane Dublin 5. He was educated to Leaving Certificate (A Levels in UK or High School US) standard and started working in the transport industry covering International Freight Forwarding in 1980, by 1982 he was a Sales Manager and in 1986 he received his Certificate of Professional Competence Road Haulage (CPC) by 1986 he was the General Manager of a freight company. In 1990, (following the closure of the company he was working for) Ian commenced his career as a Consultant for Management, Transport and ISO  (He was 28 that year).He worked with Interlink (DPD), Apple, Horizon, Memorex and finally Securispeed as a consultant. I have been asked not to make any comments on Securispeed and to be fair to Ian its the only thing he has asked me not to detail. He wanted to prove that his ability to manage and create a profitable enterprise was not restricted to the Transport industry so he opened a pub in Lanzarote in 1999 and sold it in 2003. The pub was called Nancy Spains and was extremely successful. By 2004 Ian was back in Ireland and working as a consultant. He helped Securispeed through the recession in 2008 and eventually opened a company called Speed Express Logistics (partnered with Securispeed) in 2010 when Securispeed decide to pull out of Cork, he continued the employment of 26 people of which only two of them have keep in contact with him. He was forced and fooled into closing the company in 2017 by what I can only call a pack of backstabbing fools who thought he would not survive.

In March of this year Ian was declared as been in full remission. We were over the moon, he knew he had beaten Hodgkins but I needed to hear it from the Oncologist. However the biggest challenge still faced Ian when two days after been placed in Remission he was told him Mum Theresa was critically ill, Theresa passed away at 86 on the 9th of April 2018, Ian considers his Mum to have been his lifelong friend and mentor. Ian wrote a fantastic article on Mental Awareness in this blog a few months ago which really explained his approach and reactions to all that has happened. Out of the 5 most stressful life events Ian has tackled 4 of them in just over 1 year.

Now at 56 years of age Ian is properly fitter than he was ten years ago, he has excelled himself academically, beaten Stage 4 Cancer twice and promotes Awareness to cancer every chance he gets. Everyone that meets him walk away feeling positive and motivated.

He is an absolute hero of hero’s

Thank you for your continued support

Anita Webster