Interview with Mark O'Connor

I really love this quote as it was shared with me by my good friend Mark O’Connor our IBCPC Men’s Ambassador. This is Marks philosophy in life, don’t look back, only look forward.

Mark is a male breast cancer survivor who has been through quite a lot of issues with regard to his breast cancer diagnosis, but he is never afraid to tell his story and how he came to join a dragon boat team.  A few weeks ago I stumbled across this article that I wrote six years ago about Mark, it is still incredibly relevant today and I’d like to share the article from October 2018.

I had the opportunity to sit down with Mark O’Connor the only male BCS paddler in Ireland and one of three male BCS who attended the festival in Florence.

Mark tell me a little bit about you and your journey with breast cancer.

My name is Mark O'Connor from Cork, Ireland. I would love to tell you about my story of the journey I've had with breast cancer.

In late August 2011 whilst I was on holidays with Tina, my wife and Dylan, my son in Killarney, I noticed that I had a lump on my left nipple and it seemed to be increasing in size. I vaguely remembered having bumped into a door maybe a month or so previously. Tina said “go to see our GP immediately when we return from holidays”.

I saw my GP in early September and was referred to the breast cancer clinic in the Cork University Hospital where I met a consultant named Professor Redmond who examined me and sent me straight off for a mammogram.

Once I had the mammogram, he asked me would I mind having a biopsy while I was there. The biopsy results took a week to return so I was asked to return on the following Friday. At this stage I was getting worried but was none the wiser what was coming down the line.

Tina and I returned on the following Friday for my appointment with the consultant and it seemed like we were kept waiting for an eternity. When we learnt the devastating news that I had breast cancer, I was totally gobsmacked and Tina became hysterical.

When the doctor examined me, I asked “what's the plan” and he said “we can operate on the following Thursday”. I wasn’t waiting a minute longer and I asked if he would cut it out then and there.

I am guessing you were in complete shock at this stage Mark, so what happened after this?

The following Thursday I had a mastectomy of my left breast and luckily there was a full clearance of my lymph nodes. Subsequently I started chemotherapy in November for 7 months. I lost all my hair, my fingernails and my toenails and I managed to pick up several infections and had to be hospitalised a couple of times. In 2012 I also underwent 25 radiotherapy treatments.

How did you cope with the knowledge of the severity of your diagnosis and the physical and emotional toll that took on you?

My consultant physician told me about ARC house. It's a place for people going through cancer treatments where you can get counseling, massages and other treatments to help deal with what you've been through.

That’s great to hear Mark that there was that support for you, Tina and Dylan, but how did you get into dragon boating, was it a part of your recovery?

My counselor suggested to me that there was an open day being held for Dragon boating on the 22nd of September 2012 and she thought it would be good for me to try it out as I previously had a great interest in sports.

She told me that Doctor McKenzie from Canada had come up with a unique way of helping breast cancer survivors to manage lymphedema through exercise. So off I went and attended the open day and I've never looked back since.

Not long after the open day we had a couple of meetings with the people who set up the open day namely Shirley O'Shea of the HSE, Darren Prince of the Prince clinic, Oisin Creagh, and Meithal na Mara, a community based group who gave us access to Dragon boats.

Was there a club for you to join?

No, so we set up the Cork Dragons in early 2013 after another few meetings and different training sessions like, boxersize, aqua aerobics, Pilates, and zumba dancing. This was followed by a training session with the Plurabelles in Dublin and they really showed us how to do it properly.

In early 2014 Margaret Mulcahy from the Plurabelles approached us with an invite for some of us to train with a group of paddlers from all over Ireland and so began another chapter.

Tell me how it came about that you attended the IBCPC festival in Sarasota?

With Margaret and the group from Plurabelles we set about training and with 9 training sessions held in Dublin and Tipperary we became Team Ireland and attended the IBCPC festival in Sarasota, Florida. It was amazing, the camaraderie, friendship and team work, and all the other friendships we developed after that was truly phenomenal.

I’m sure that after Sarasota, that the seed was sown to put a team together for the festival in Florence in 2018. How did you start planning for that?

So roll on to October 2016 and Deborah Bonner a Team Ireland teammate, great friend and absolutely all round amazing person, contacts me and asks if I would I mind giving a speech in Solis Castle in Donegal about male breast cancer and it's effects on me.

The theme of the night was “Real Men Wear Pink”. This is where the idea for the Wild Atlantic Warriors was spawned with Deborah, Lisa Power and myself. So we approached our own clubs with the idea and subsequently had our first meeting in February 2017.

Then Florence became a dream come true for the Wild Atlantic Warriors and so began the work of trying to get everyone together for training sessions etc and get ready for Florence 2018. It was truly amazing to be in Florence with all my friends, team mates and new friends.

Mark, having been on this incredible journey of diagnosis, new beginnings and self discovery, how do you feel now?

I'm a happier, healthier and better person for my introduction to Dragon boating. One gift breast cancer gave me, is knowing how precious life is, and the different attitude I take to life everyday in trying to live it to the full, along with all the amazing people I've met along the way, through Dragon boating.

My motto is “if in doubt, check it out”, that's what doctors are there for and early detection and intervention is the key. Also keep looking forward as looking back is only for parking cars.

Paddles up Mark.