Never back down

KEITH Connellan had everything going for him. Everything that mainstream society would approve of. Armed with a Green Card and working as a self-employed electrician in Boston, the Connolly man had the money, the houses and the lifestyle.
What he also had was a malignant brain tumour.
Not what you would expect to be told at 29 years of age – but so it was and he was diagnosed in January 2008. That was bad enough but Keith’s father, Patsy, had been diagnosed with lung cancer the previous summer and passed away in August 2008.
“The day he was dying, I got in that morning (from the US) and I said a couple of things at the bed. I said a couple of things and fathers know, at the end of the day, you don’t need to actually say anything. I suppose that’s what I’ve learned from it, there was no need. He knew we were all there, his kids and I don’t think he could have asked for anything more,” Keith said when he spoke to The Clare Champion.
Despite the fact that both were going through a harrowing time, Keith didn’t think that either himself or his father needed to put their feelings into words.
“My theory about Irish sons and fathers is they have this unique relationship, where it’s touch and go at times. You want to be there and you want to just support him so much but you can’t say anything because you know he doesn’t (want you to). But as Irish mothers and sons have a great relationship, I think, we’re that bit more open,” he suggests.
Burying his father was the toughest period of Keith’s life. The strain nearly floored him.
“I was in the church and I was carrying my father’s coffin out of the church and I was doing my best, because I had seizures after my operation and my last seizure was on Easter Sunday. So really what I was trying to do was stay as calm as possible so nothing would happen.
“What was harder was people who were close to me, they couldn’t even look at me in the eye. They were afraid this is your destiny, this is Keith. And I understood that. I suppose that is why I went back to the States. I couldn’t actually wait to leave again and go back to the States, where in a big city where you are anonymous,” he noted.
Keith feels that his lifestyle definitely contributed to his illness.
“Diet was huge. I would get up in the morning and I would have a coffee first thing and I mightn’t eat until 11 and I was really impairing my immune system. And that’s what I believe was a big factor in me getting ill,” he suggested.
“I was never really carrying too much weight, I was pretty well built. I just got caught up in the whole, you go to America and you’re expected to do so well and you do so well but it was at a cost.
You would be up at five o’clock in the morning and you’d work until 7 or 8 in the evening. Golf would have been my outlet on the weekends and maybe once during the week. I stressed myself too much, for no reason. I was only in my 20s so stress, along with the diet, definitely impaired the body,” he reflects.
Following his diagnosis, Keith had to undergo chemotherapy at the same time as his father, who was naturally affected by his son’s condition.
“When I got diagnosed, I started on chemotherapy right away. Dad’s chemotherapy periods were cyclical, as mine were, it was a straight 12 months of a week on, a week off.
At the same time the story of US senator Ted Kennedy’s sickness broke.
“So I was in America and I knew well Dad was watching the news at home, about all the negative news about malignant brain tumours and the impact it has. I knew well he was picking up on all of this and I think for a finish Dad absolutely let go because of it. I don’t think there was no way he was going to let me go before him,” Keith believes.
In the prime of his life, every element of his being had altered.  
“My whole life has changed radically. I couldn’t really go back to my old job. I was doing light jobs and so many factors come into play then. I thought about moving home. But everything was up in the air because Dad was going through his treatment and we were all waiting to see what was happening there. I seemed to be steady, everything seemed to be going okay. So when Dad passed I decided I would move home for a while. I started getting weaker then towards the end of my treatment. In the last six months, I had no weight whatsoever, I was cold, because they gave me a two year dosage in one, they just wanted to hit it hard,” he said.
A visit to a faith healer in Brazil has helped Keith immeasurably.
“I was introduced to this friend, he is now a good friend of mine and he took me to Brazil to see a healer at the end of January of last year. I met some incredible people and I met an amazing woman. I wasn’t sure what was going to happen, I wasn’t sure if I was going to move on or live or die and she told me, Keith you are a cancer survivor. And my whole outlook on the disease turned. I said, yeah I’m still around, this disease isn’t taking me. There is something going on here. That changed things,” he said.
Now his illness is under control, although Keith is not fully in the clear yet.
“They just want to see me every six months now so as far as I’m concerned, it’s well managed, it’s under control,” he explained.
As for advice to anyone who is diagnosed with a similar condition, Keith Connellan’s message is straightforward.
“To anybody who has this disease or who is newly diagnosed I would definitely think about looking at your diet. These are practical steps you can take yourself without having to talk to a doctor. The doctors you meet won’t talk to you about nutrition. I haven’t met any. If they do, you’re fortunate.
“Trying to keep stress out of your life and the family can come in there and help in a big way, making salads, and friends just all gather round and see that person well. It really gives that person a lot of hope, people seeing you well. Just keep seeing yourself well and feeling yourself well is more important than anything,” Keith Connellan concluded, having fought through the most trying time of his young life.