“I burned myself in my twenties and thirties while working in the garden”

With his red hair and pale skin covered in freckles, Jim Sheehan never really liked the sun when he was growing up. But he still spent a lot of time outdoors and even though he wasn’t lying on a sun lounger, he felt he didn’t need to apply sunscreen or take any precautions.

But he was wrong. And just like comedian Sean Lock, who tragically died last month of lung cancer, he was diagnosed with skin cancer after years of ignoring the telltale signs.

“Other than a few colds and flu I have never had an illness in my life – I have always been fortunate to be healthy and even now at 63 the only medicine I take is Guinness. He laughs. “So I went through life happily without any complaints. But 10 years ago, I developed a mole on my right arm – halfway between my elbow and my shoulder. It started out quite small and eventually grew to the size of a dime.

“At this point people started to notice him, including my good wife and the rest of my family, who said I should get him checked out, but I wouldn’t be the type to go to the doctor. So it wasn’t until after a friend died of skin cancer that I started to think about it more seriously, as I had developed a second on my back – and that’s what ‘he also had.

“I dreamed about him and then I thought I should have my mole checked, so I made an appointment with my GP.”

At the doctor’s office, Jim, who is married to Kay and has four grown children (David, Maria, Joe and Karen), learned that he had to undergo further tests to determine the nature of the moles.

“Right away my GP looked slightly alarmed and referred me to a specialist,” he says. “Within days I had an appointment where both moles were removed [for examination] there, and I got back to work. I didn’t care, and I didn’t think about it much more. I was told someone would contact me soon and I was expecting this as my GP didn’t think the moles looked normal, but I really wasn’t that worried.

“He called me a few days later, on his cell phone in the evening, which struck me as a little strange because he didn’t give that number to anyone, and he told me that, as was suspected, the two moles were clever.

“But since I wasn’t sick at all, I wasn’t too worried until my good wife and I went to the hospital appointment and the plastic surgeon told me I had a special form of skin cancer, which left me with a 50/50 chance of survival.

“It scared Kay’s life. But my attitude, as always, was that I would fight it no matter what and get ready for the surgery.

The father of four, who works as a safety coordinator for Irish Water, underwent further testing before removing large patches of skin and lymph nodes under his right arm.

Lymph node removal

“After the tests on my knots, they removed a big slice of my arm and back,” he says. “The moles were gone by this point, so they took a piece about six inches long and an inch wide from my arm and the same from my back – it was a lot of flesh. told someone at the time, it was the size of a steak dinner and had enough to feed the dogs.

“They also removed a few lymph nodes and then tested all the skin they had removed. Fortunately, it had not spread in the flesh, but both lymph nodes showed signs of cancer. After a few days, I had to go back to the hospital to have the lymph nodes removed. It was a little harder because even though I had no pain at all when I had the skin removed, there was a bit of pain this time around and I had to stay in the hospital a bit longer a long time in order to have drained fluids and stuff like that.

“But I wasn’t sick of myself and I didn’t have my pajamas every day at 9 am for the whole week. I would go out for a walk every day, sometimes I would miss an hour or more which was totally against the rules – but I didn’t feel sick and I wasn’t going to be thrown into a bed.

Fortunately for the Cork man, no further treatment was needed and despite his surgeon’s severe diagnosis, he made a full recovery.

“The outcome of my recovery was based entirely on the success of the operation because at that time there was no treatment available,” he says. “My body was a little sore and it had to relearn how to sweat because the sweat glands had been removed from under my arm – so even to this day I’m sweating through my ribs on the right side. Fortunately, I had no other side effects and was back to golf about six or eight weeks after the operation.

“I was fortunate not to have had any emotional issues because of all of this as I have a very positive attitude and always focus on the here and now rather than dwelling on what’s happening. happened in the past, so I rode and the only change I made was that I started wearing sunscreen for the first time in my life.

deck chairs

“I had never thought of wearing it in the past because, although I love the sun, I wouldn’t be mad to lie in it. And even on vacation abroad when the family would be on deckchairs or sunbeds in the pool, I would be the only one not to throw myself in the sun and always find something in the shade instead.

“But I have certainly burned a lot in the past, especially in my twenties and thirties, as I worked in the garden when it was sunny without a shirt – I had red hair (I’m pure white now) and very pale skin with freckles so I was an absolute target for the sun and never thought about putting on cream because I thought I would be fine if I didn’t sunbathe.

After his considerable touch with skin cancer, Jim is very aware of the sun’s harmful rays and always takes precautions, regardless of the weather.

“Slip, Slap, Slop, Wrap – I’ve heard these four words recently in relation to skin cancer and still try to follow them,” he says. “So I put on a long sleeve shirt and I always have it when I play golf, I put on a straw hat while everyone else is wearing a baseball cap because a wide brimmed hat will protect your ears so that a baseball hat does not. . I also put on sunscreen every time I go out and roll up a pair of sunglasses.

“I also make a point of wearing gloves when playing golf – I don’t take them off the entire time I’m on the course because you just can’t be too careful with that.

“I would advise anyone who is worried about any type of mole or skin tag to get it checked out. It may not be anything, and if it is, the doctor will refer you. The important thing is to stay safe, keep checking, and keep going. “

The new Marie Keating Foundation Talks Cancer podcast provides expert information and patient experience to everyone diagnosed with cancer. This series, kindly supported by Novartis, is “Talking Melanoma”. All eight episodes of this podcast series are now available on all streaming platforms. Visit https://www.mariekeating.ie/podcast/ for more information.

Skin cancer: facts and protection

Skin cancers represent one in three cancers diagnosed each year in Ireland and are divided into two main types: melanoma and non-melanoma

Skin cancer other than melanoma is the most common cancer in Ireland, with melanoma being the fourth most common cancer

There are over 12,114 non-melanoma skin cancers and over 1,197 melanomas diagnosed each year

The incidence of skin cancer is expected to triple over the next 20 years, with the risk of developing melanoma increasing much more in men than in women.

Outdoor workers are up to eight times more exposed to UV rays than indoor workers and are therefore particularly at risk. It is therefore essential to be aware of the risk.

The number of people diagnosed is increasing every year and early detection is vital. So people should also be aware of any changes in their skin and contact their doctor if they detect anything unusual.

Being aware of the sun is essential for preventing skin cancer. The risks can therefore be reduced by seeking shade between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m., by applying sunscreen with SPF30 or more (SPF50 for children) and UVA / UVB protection to all exposed areas of the body every two hours, by covering with a long-sleeved collar shirt, hat and sunglasses with full UV protection.