Cancer Warrior: Nuala

10th November 2018 – A Priceless Photograph

The photo was taken at The Celebration Of Life Ball on November 10th 2018 and my next blog is dedicated to the night but this blog is dedicated to this photo

They say that some photos are “one in a million” well this photo is absolutely “priceless rare and unique”.

Now it’s not because I have this stunning young lady beside me with a beaming smile, I’m used to that with Anita, it’s not because we both look amazing & sexy. It’s because this young ladies name is Nuala…For those who have read my blog you will recall I referred to a young lady who had undergone the same level of ABVD Chemotherapy, Radiotherapy (chest), ICE Chemotherapy followed by BEAM Chemotherapy & a full Stem Cell Transplant- well this is the young lady and her name is Nuala.

So the priceless & uniqueness of this photo is the fact that the two people in the photo had both been declared as Terminal Stage 4 Lymphoma in 2017 (Nuala in Aug 2017 & Ian in April 2017) both were self donors (Autologous) for Stem Cells both had extreme levels of Chemotherapy last year, both underwent Stem Cell Transplants AND both are now in full Remission – Nuala was placed in Remission in May 2018 and as you know I was placed in remission in March 2018.

Nuala is the Ambassador for Just Say NO to Cancer at The Cork Cancer Care Centre who hosted the Celebration of Life Ball. We live about 20 minutes away from each other but had never meet before this night. We had our chemotherapy in different hospitals in Cork but the Stem Cell Transplants were preformed in St James Hospital Dublin in a specialized advanced cancer unit.

What better way can you Celebrate life than to have two Stage 4 Lymphoma survivors together in remission like this…

Just as an update on Nuala – This article was an update in May 2020..

https://www.irishmirror.ie/lifestyle/health/irish-cancer-survivor-feared-growing-22016215