39-year-old university lecturer has had cancer three times but 'keeps fighting' 

Dr Brian Tobin, 39, was a third-level student when he was first diagnosed with cancer of the pelvis. Though diagnosed with Li-Fraumeni syndrome, the ambitious university lecturer has no intention of reining in his life 

04/06/2022. XX Irene Feighan. Pictured is Brian Tobin, Waterford City. Picture: Patrick Browne

I was diagnosed with my first rare cancer, a bone tumour deep in my pelvis in 2002.  The tumour was a considerable size, so the oncologist informed me that the main objective was to save my life, and subsequently my affected left leg, if possible.

At the time, I was an ambitious, teenage law student at Trinity College Dublin who had never spent a single night in a hospital bed, yet suddenly I was faced with months of inpatient chemotherapy and its many undesirable side effects. Thankfully, the tumour responded well to chemotherapy treatment, but to fully eradicate it would involve surgery. Due to the complex location of the tumour in my left hemipelvis, surgeons gave me the option of a hindquarter amputation, a procedure so severe that there would be no possibility of later fitting an artificial limb — life as a wheelchair user or the need for permanent walking aids to support walking with my remaining right leg awaited me.