Former patients say thanks to Beaumont staff

LAST Thursday (July 31), Beaumont Hospital Foundation hosted an event where former patients were given the opportunity to thank the staff members who they believe went the extra mile in helping them to recover.

Joseph Redmond, from Killester, and Matthew Butterly, an airport police fire officer at Dublin Airport, were among the former patients who attended the Foundation’s annual

‘Honour Your Heroes’ day.

In February, Joseph (78) was out one evening canvassing for the Labour Party, when he stumbled awkwardly on a kerb.

Later that night he began to experience severe back pain and lost the feeling in his left foot and was brought to A&E in Beaumont Hospital.

As he waited to be seen, the numbness he was feeling in his foot began to travel up his legs and lower body. He had an emergency MRI scan the following morning which showed that he had suffered an extra-dural haematoma or a massive bleed into the spinal column.

Joseph needed surgery urgently and later that afternoon was operated on by Mr David O’Brien, in a complicated procedure which required removal of bones on his spine to get to a clot that had formed on his spinal column.

Joseph was recovering from the operation on Richmond Ward when he developed a whole range of post-operative problems including septicaemia, clots on the lungs and loss of hearing in his left ear. He received excellent care for six weeks battling these complications before being well enough to be transferred to St Joseph’s Hospital in Raheny for rehab in April.

It was there that his will to get back on his feet was enabled, largely through the support of nurse, Elaine Butler. When he arrived at St Joseph’s he was brought there in a wheelchair and had to have two people hoist him in and out of bed.

But with the help of Elaine’s encouragement, team leadership and great sense of humour and a structured occupational therapy (OT) and physio programme, Joseph began to walk again with all feeling returned to his lower limbs.

On June 11, he was discharged from St Joseph’s and is back to good health and playing golf once again. On the day he thanked Elaine and the rehab team.

In 2009, 6ft 3

? Matthew was shaving when he discovered a lump on his neck. That coupled with a general lack of energy caused him to seek medical opinion.

His GP referred him on to a consultant and an appointment was made in Beaumont Hospital for Matthew to have a biopsy of the lump, which was to be taken under anaesthetic. When he came round after the operation, he found he had 12 stitches in his neck.

While taking the tissue sample, the surgeon had discovered a tumour on Matthew’s lymph glands and removed it.

Matthew was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, a cancer which develops in the body’s lymph nodes.

Matthew was advised to have a PET Scan to determine the extent of the cancer and it was discovered that it had spread to his groin.

Matthew said:

“I met with Oscar Breathnach (consultant) and nurse Clodagh McHugh ahead of the start of my treatment and was told I was lucky.

“I was young and fit. Why? They were going to hit me with a very hard and heavy dose of chemotherapy with the purpose of burning the cancer out of my body. It would need all my strength to cope with it.

?

One day a week for six weeks, Matthew attended the Day Oncology Ward at Beaumont Hospital.

After his final treatment, Matthew remembers he crawled out of the hospital just before Christmas 2009. The good news was he was in remission.

Through DAA’s Charity of the Year scheme, Matthew and his colleagues successfully nominated Beaumont Hospital Foundation as the staff charity for 2010 against stiff competition.

There were many events organised including 16 of Matthew’s colleagues climbing Ireland’s 16 highest peaks in 62 hours with Matthew himself completing 12 of them.

In total, the staff of DAA raised e180,000 for Beaumont Hospital Foundation resulting in a complete refit of the Day Oncology Ward which is delivering greatly improved conditions for those patients undergoing chemotherapy.

On the day Matthew thanked nurse Clodagh McHugh and the nursing staff on the day ward.