Irish cyclist Tomás Mulqueen today set out for his first bike ride in 10 months after facing cancer for the second time in his life and winning his battle with it.
Currently still under medical
observation in Dublin after a life-saving transfusion three months ago, Cork
man Mulqueen has ventured onto the turbo trainer indoors in the last week or
two for 20 minutes at a time.
And today he took a big step with his recovery, and for his frame of mind, when he ventured out onto the roads on his bike for the first time in 10 long months. He was aided and abetted today by Alec Darragh of Old Velos fame
“I only did 20k out to the Phoenix Park and did one lap there and then back to the house I’m staying in at the moment,” Mulqueen told stickybottle.
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“The legs were shocking but it didn't matter one bit to me. The main thing was I was able to get out on the bike.”
Indeed, the last time Mulqueen – who
races with De Ronde Van Cork – was out on the open roads was in Calpe, southern
Spain, back in February, when he crashed on the descent of Port du Tudons and
broke his pelvis.
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Just before leaving Ireland for Spain he had been feeling under the weather and went for a series of tests.
After his crash on his cycling holiday he was recovering back home in Cork when he got the results of those tests, which confirmed he had cancer.
The condition diagnosed was K Cell Lymphoma in the oesophagus and his bone marrow. He underwent multiple rounds of chemotherapy in Cork University Hospital before being transferred to St James’s Hospital, Dublin, after a bone marrow transplant match was found for him.
His family fundraised for him online - with €70,000 pouring in - because he was forced to rent accommodation in Dublin for months as he had to be near St James after being discharged. He also had other costs associated with his treatment and his period of recovery.
He got the transplant on September 1st but during his long hospital stay he developed complications with a nasty infection and was on his own with no visitors for six weeks due to Covid-19 restrictions.
After being discharged he began staying in his rent accommodation in Dublin and was hooked up to a ‘Hickman line’ – a tube that pumps medicines into his body as part of his treatment.
But as that has now been removed he is in the final countdown before returning home to Cork his wife, Linda, and children – Emer (12), Darragh (6) and Caoimhe (20) - hopefully in time for Christmas.
“I’m looking at getting back to Cork in
the next couple of weeks,” he said. “They've taken the Hickman line out and
they’ve been reducing the doses of some and completely stopping other
medications. So far, so good as they say.”
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