“I wasn’t expecting it. It wasn’t something in my family”
William Lyne, from Kerry, who is very glad that his operation at Cork University Hospital was a success: "I’m in flying form now and I’d go through it all again if I had to."
Born in County Kerry, just a few minutes outside Killarney town, William Lyne has been living in The Kingdom ever since. Together, he and his wife, Philomena, are parents to six children and grandparents to 11 more.
We talk at midday on a bright, crisp morning. The topic is the prostate cancer surgery he underwent at Cork University Hospital (CUH) in May last year.
He’s buzzing with energy, vibrance and great humour and it’s small wonder: just minutes before our conversation begins, he hopped off his bike after an 80 km cycle around the local beauty spots of his native county.
Describing how he’s always been a man who enjoys outdoor sporting activities, he says: “I was born in 1955 and I was rowing, running and cycling all my life. I joined the Workmen’s Rowing Club in the 1970s and have great memories of taking part in the annual Killarney Regattas.”
He recalls then, the decades he spent working as a joiner. When I tell him that my late father, who was from County Clare, worked in that same trade all his life, William reminisces fondly about crafting and the joinery days of old.
When our conversation turns to health, he says: “One of my sisters’ died of cancer a few years ago. When that happened, I began going for regular checkups. Then last year, my doctor spotted something in the results of a blood test and I was referred to a specialist.”
Asked whether he had any symptoms that might have hinted something wasn’t right, William shares that his waterworks had been getting him up in the night: “But that didn’t bother me and I didn’t think it could mean something might be wrong.”
While he knew that prostate cancer was fairly common amongst men of his age, his diagnosis still came as a surprise: “I wasn’t expecting it to be detected in me. It wasn’t something that was in my family.”
Being Kerry-based, William assumed he’d be going to Tralee for treatment. Instead, he took heed when his doctor told him he’d be seen faster at CUH, which is a regional cancer centre.
“I’m very glad I went to CUH,” he says. “My experience there was great. If I had to, I’d be happy to go there again tomorrow.”
William was sent for an MRI and then a prostate biopsy.
“Kevin O’Connor [consultant urologist] looked after me. He said the cancer was in the early stages and he explained my options. As I found him to be a gentleman and I trusted him, I asked him what he would do if he were me.
“We decided then, that because I was fit enough and didn’t smoke, I would go for the surgery option.”
William’s surgery took place in May 2021 at CUH. “Because of Covid, my wife dropped me off outside the hospital on the Friday and collected me again on the Monday,” he recalls. “I was lucky I was able to get in and out home again so fast.”
Recalling that weekend in the hospital, he says: “I went in fasting on the Friday. I was a bit worried going in, and when I was told I’d be knocked out for the procedure, it crossed my mind that I mightn’t come back from that. But I knew I was in safe hands and I trusted those who were looking after me. And I’m in flying form now and I’d go through it all again if I had to.”
He gives special praise to "Orla, a lovely CUH nurse".
“She works there with Kevin O’Connor,” he says. “She’s a lovely person who’s excellent, the sort who makes things easy for you. She looked after me when I first went in for surgery and then again for a few weeks afterwards, when I was going in and out to be seen.”
So high is William’s esteem for CUH’s Kevin O’Connor, that when a friend told him he was having a difficult time on his prostate cancer journey at a different hospital under a different consultant, William advised him to see if he could switch, so he’d be looked after instead by Mr O’Connor at CUH.
“That was done and my friend was well pleased,” he says.
Sharing then, that a number of his friends are currently undergoing treatment for prostate surgery, William talks of how the men support one another: “We would always be looking out for each other,” he says. “One might ring and say he can’t sleep at night. We might talk then about stress and maybe arrange to meet for a chat.
“It helps when one man can sit down with another man and talk about these things. It eases the pressure. Men don’t often talk with each other this way, in the way that women do over a coffee, and we should do more of it.
“Times are changing now, though, and men are beginning to open up a bit and tell one another how they are. I tell all of my friends to go yearly for regular checkups and blood tests.”
Asked whether life changed for him after the surgery, he replies: “I was a bit anxious straight afterwards, but I was back on my bike six weeks after that. So, really I was flying, and I’m still cycling away.
“I was cycling up around Mizen Head last weekend,” he says. “I cycled around 100km on the Saturday and maybe another 80km up and down the hills around Sheep’s Head on the Sunday. Then I’d another great cycle this morning. So life’s pretty good.”
His wife must be delighted to see him pedalling around the county, his health regained.
“She is, but she’s also glad the cycling gets me out of the house,” he laughs. “She’s off getting her hair done this morning,” he says fondly.
Then proudly adds: ”We’ve the family reared.”
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