{"id":678154,"date":"2026-09-08T07:43:19","date_gmt":"2026-09-08T07:43:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/678154\/"},"modified":"2026-09-08T07:43:19","modified_gmt":"2026-09-08T07:43:19","slug":"i-was-given-three-months-to-live-without-treatment-six-to-eight-months-with-treatment-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/678154\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I was given three months to live without treatment, six-to-eight months with treatment\u2019 \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cThree months to live without treatment but between six and eight months with treatment.\u201d That was the prognosis for Laurence Ellis (67) when he was diagnosed<\/a> with end-stage renal cancer<\/a> in April <\/p>\n

\u201cSo I opted, as one would, for the treatment. And things are going along quite well at the moment,\u201d he reports cheerfully, five months later. \u201cI wasn\u2019t given an awful lot of time to live, but the treatments have worked very well indeed. I\u2019m on immunotherapy, on a very strong anticancer tablet and I\u2019ve had radiotherapy. Everything is working so well, I actually feel better than I\u2019ve felt in a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n

He was surprised to be offered services at Galway<\/a> Hospice (galwayhospice.ie<\/a>) several months ago, having believed it was a place where people go to spend their last few days. \u201cBut I\u2019m always up for trying something and then making a call afterwards.\u201d<\/p>\n

He attends once a week, except when it clashes with immunotherapy. \u201cEvery time I go there, it\u2019s a good experience. Nothing like I expected,\u201d he says. Instead, he found a whole other side to the hospice, which is a day service for people dealing with life-limiting illness.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve got a lot out of it,\u201d says Ellis, paying tribute to the staff and volunteers. \u201cIn times of illnesses which are life-threatening, having people around where there\u2019s compassion and empathy \u2013 they\u2019re good qualities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Each Thursday, the hospice organises for him to be picked up from Loughrea, Co Galway, where he now lives with one of his two adult daughters and her family. As a bass player, singer and music arranger, he joins in the morning music therapy at the hospice. That singsong can last up to an hour. Lunch is provided, followed by options such as massage, occupational therapy and physiotherapy.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a diabetic so I have foot care. I\u2019m also a wheelchair user, so I would avail of some time with the physiotherapist.\u201d<\/p>\n

The day ends midafternoon with a meditation session. He is grateful he can also use the centre\u2019s showering facilities, because being a wheelchair user since April, he cannot get to the shower at home as it is upstairs.<\/p>\n

Recalling how he had felt well until last February, Ellis now knows the back ache he experienced at the end of last year was the cancer spreading. As it was an atypical renal cancer and did not show up initially, further weeks were lost before the diagnosis.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Cancer diagnosis: \u2018This is not good news, you need to be admitted right away\u2019Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

The prognosis came as a shock, as he had thought it was probably a hip infection that could be sorted with antibiotics. But he says it did not take long for him to come to terms with it.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy mental state is as good as it\u2019s ever been. I don\u2019t have issues with stress or worry. Even though I know the outcome is going be sooner rather than later \u2026 at least I\u2019ve got an idea now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although doctors cannot be 100 per cent sure about the time anybody has left to live, \u201cI\u2019d rather have an educated guess and I\u2019ll fill in the blanks based on how I am feeling on any given day\u201d.<\/p>\n

It means he can start making plans.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t like being unprepared. Without wanting to make it sound morbid, I want to make sure that before I die, all my affairs are in order.\u201d<\/p>\n

He has put his house in Corofin, Co Clare on the market. \u201cIf the house sells while I\u2019m alive, I can see that my children get the money that\u2019s due them.\u201d<\/p>\n

But there is no question of him starting to say his goodbyes just yet. \u201cHonestly, I feel like I\u2019m in rude health \u2013 apart from the fact that walking is a little bit tricky. If I\u2019m in a [wheel]chair, I whizz around; if I\u2019ve got a frame, I whizz around; if I\u2019ve got my stick, I potter.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut other than that, everything else works,\u201d he adds with a chuckle. \u201cI have no feeling of giving up anytime soon.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThree months to live without treatment but between six and eight months with treatment.\u201d That was the prognosis…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":678155,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[78],"tags":[110,18,1878,135,6693,19,17],"class_list":["post-678154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-cancer","tag-eire","tag-galway","tag-health","tag-health-wellness","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117234303064696400","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/678154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=678154"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/678154\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/678155"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=678154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=678154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=678154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}