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Rebel with a cause

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MORE than 30 years after being given a few months to live, Conor O’Sullivan was signing copies of his book Rebel Mind in Shannon last Saturday.
At just 18, a tumour was found in his spine and it looked like there was no hope.
“They said it was very rare and they didn’t know how to deal with it, I was sent to a hospice to die and that’s what the book’s emphasis is on. I was in the hospice for four or five months and got very dependent on morphine and some other things.
“My mother was a strong Kerry woman and a nurse. She thought that maybe I should die at home instead of in the hospice and I was brought out of it and she nursed me from there. Every time I got a pain or something went wrong, we thought that this was the big one. I had already had radiotherapy and chemotherapy and they hadn’t worked.”
Born in England to Irish parents, Conor has been living in Clare since 1996 and moved into his Corofin home two years later.
He says the book’s title is taken from how he reacted to the medical advice he was given.
“I kind of rebelled against what the doctors said, I rebelled against the way I was being treated by the medical fraternity at the time. When I went for an examination in ’92 they found that the tumour had grown a bit more around my back and shoulders. They wanted to experiment and do more stuff, but I said no, I’ve lasted this long by myself, you sent me away to die but I’m still going and that’s how I’m going to continue. I just got on with my life. That was 19 years ago.”
He still doesn’t get any regular medical help. “I don’t have any treatment at all. I threw myself into disabled rights and fighting for disabled rights causes. I threw myself into other avenues to keep my mind occupied and active. I don’t have any treatment at all for the cancer. I had a thing about fighting the cancer when I was in the hospice, I’m interested in Irish history and rebel songs gave me a lot of fight. I looked on killing the cancer cells like killing the Black and Tans! The book isn’t all gloomy, there’s a sense of humour there.”
Conor’s father came from Quilty originally and he tried various things to get his son through the illness. “He was born in 1916 and he had the old Irish attitude about religion. He took me to the seventh son of a seventh son, took me to Lourdes, did lots of things to try and combat the cancer. My mother, being the practical one, also helped keep me going for a long time.”
The story of his battle with cancer is served with a good dollop of humour, according to Conor.
“I know someone who was reading the book and he was laughing. His partner said what’s funny about someone dying of cancer? He said you’d want to read this book, there’s enough laughter in it to beat the sadness. That’s the type of book I wanted it to be, I didn’t want it to be all doom and gloom.”
The book has been a long time coming and at times, its writing was uncomfortable work.
“I started writing about 20 years ago and I took the original draft down to John B Keane in Listowel in 1999. My mother is from Listowel and he gave me encouragement. He said I needed to work on it a bit more, there were a few things I needed to do. I started doing part time work in the disability field so I left the book to one side. In the last three years I met a chap called John McGrath who helped me with the book. He helped me to put it together and in the last few years we finished it and launched it in Listowel on June 2.
“When I was writing about the treatment and the hospice it brought a lot of memories to life and I found it very emotional and it was a tough time to write. Now, I’ve got the message out there and I’m really pleased with the response that I’m getting from people in similar situations. It’s been a very uplifting thing.”

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