John Wilson's wife believes ‘Years of stress contributed to bowel cancer’
Mr Wilson went to Cavan hospital for tests on Tuesday and doctors diagnosed a possible bowel blockage. He was operated on by Wednesday. “Thankfully everything went well and we are now just waiting on the results of the biopsy,” said his wife, Anne. “He is in good form this morning and he had a good night and he is doing well, thank God”.
Speaking on local radio station Shannon Side Northern Sound, Mrs Wilson said her husband was “very happy with Minister Leo Varadkar’s comments” adding that he had great respect for the minister.
However, she attributed her husband’s illness to the stress he has been under for years for highlighting the abuse of the penalty points system.
“I do believe that the amount of stress and pressure that man has been under the last couple of years has been tremendous and I do believe it was contributory factor to getting bowel cancer. There is no history in his family of this so it has to be a contributing factor, stress,” she said.
Anne, when asked by presenter Joe Finnegan what it has been like for the family, replied: “It has been horrendous, very stressful on the family, very stressful. It is 24/7, 356 days a year, it is constant what John and Maurice (McCabe) had to go through. Finally, now, they have been vindicated by the Comptroller & Auditor General’s report and the Garda Inspectorate report . . . totally vindicated.”
Speaking about the effect on their three children Anne simply said “it is hard on the family”.
“It affects all the family but the only advantage is our three children are all at college so all week they are away, so it is okay, but it is hard to manage at times, we are all behind him 100%. He believes he is right.”
On the issue of whether or not John will stand as planned as an Independent in the local elections in May in the Cavan-Belturbet area, Anne says they have already discussed it and will wait for the test results before he confirms his decision.
She said her husband also wanted to urge people to go for regular tests.
“John had only one small symptom of bowel cancer and he does not even know why he went to the doctor, but he is glad he did. People may worry about money at times, but they should go to the doctor and worry about the money later,” Anne said.
