A prominent Galway city councillor who was recently diagnosed with bowel cancer has said that he is determined to use his diagnosis to encourage people to be more vigilant of the warning signs and to get themselves checked.
Fianna Fail councillor Alan Cheevers received the diagnosis several weeks ago and this week started a series of chemotherapy treatments in a bid to beat the disease.
In an interview inside this week's Galway Advertiser, Cllr Cheevers said that while the diagnosis has been devastating for him, he is determined to adapt a positive approach to get through it, and to use his profile to warn others of the imnportance of early detection.
This week, he began his chemotherapy with a determination that he will beat this condition and save more lives.
"As I started my treatment journey on Monday, I made a decision I was going to raise awareness and to use my profile as a public representative to ask people to go for checks, to go for bowel screening.
"Early detection is key to this, and my mission during my illness, is firstly to beat this and get to other side, but also to talk like I am talking today to get the message out, so that perhaps my diagnosis will save more lives and prevent people getting as ill as they might.
""The positive slant on my diagnosis is that bowel screening and bowel check is so important and I would encourage anybody who hasn’t got it done, to get it done. It is really important to do that. Hopefully, raising awareness like this will save somebody’s life or get them to go in and have a check. This is what I am trying to achieve.
The popular councillor has been stunned by the reaction to the news of his diagnosis, with many people offering advice and help and encouragement to maintain the strength to get through the treatment.
