Brian’s Story:

Although born in the UK, Brian has spent almost all his life as a ‘Dub’. Having always worked as a continental truck driver, he’d probably be classed as your typical ‘hard as nails’ man. However, a ‘soreness’ in his chest was to lead to his toughest battle yet.

“In September 2022 I was getting dressed and my shirt just rubbed against my right nipple… and it was sore. Initially, I was going to ignore it, but I made an appointment with my Doctor. It took about ten days to be seen and in that time, that soreness didn’t go away.

“Anyway, when I saw the Doc he gave me some cream to treat it, but he also referred me to the Mater’s Breast Health Clinic. About three weeks later I headed in for the appointment with my daughter. It was a little surreal in the changing room, I think the others thought I was there to support my daughter, little did they know that I was the patient.

“I saw Prof Stokes, who carried out a physical examination. Now, I didn’t have any lumps or discolouration at this stage, my only symptom was a very painful nipple to touch. The Prof could see that I was a little nervous and mentioned that it could possibly be hormone related. To be sure, he scheduled a mammogram and said it would need further investigation.

“So I have my mammogram, followed in early November 2022 by a biopsy. I meet with Prof Stokes again and he tells me he wants to remove my right breast tissue. I’m in a trance, it’s going in one ear and out the other, all the time I’m thinking it’s all women in the clinic, I’m the only fella. Flipping Eck I’m 72 years old why is this happening?

“I head home to tell my wife, but I’m struggling to cope with the news. I worry about whether I’ll make it through. What if I’m not around to look after her? You think when you get to 72 that cancer has probably skipped you, missed you out … but no such luck, it was just bloody waiting for me. My wife convinces me to go see my GP about my worries and it helps.

“I have the operation very quickly after that and all goes well. The surgeon, the nurses, in fact all the hospital staff were absolutely fantastic. From going down to theatre to the recovery room and back to the ward, I couldn’t praise them enough for their care and support. After three days I’m ready to go home.

“That was over a year ago and I’m flying now, I didn’t need any additional treatment. I’ve had my follow up mammogram and so far, so good. When I was having my op, I saw the event details for the Mater Hospital Foundation’s Dickie Dip – raising funds to support men’s cancer care at the Mater. I said if I’m around next year, I’ll give that a go.

“It was easy to say it 😀, and I did sign up, but as it got closer I was very apprehensive. However, on Saturday, 11 November 2023, I joined over 300 other gents and ran in to the Irish Sea in Skerries wearing nothing but a Dickie Bow. I just went with the flow on the day, the adrenalin carried me along and there was a great sense of camaraderie and solidarity… I’m proud I did it. Three hours later, I was at my great-granddaughter’s christening. Two events in one day that showed me how lucky I was to be here and enjoying life.

“My job now is to continue to enjoy life and look after my wonderful wife and family.  I’ve given up the truck driving, apart from the odd day here and there. I have started a new driving job though – I’m volunteering to drive cancer patients to their treatment. It’s nice to give something back and having been through a little of what they’re experiencing, I can offer some empathy.

“If I could give one piece of advice to finish, it’d be – you don’t need to have lumps and bumps for something to be wrong. Whatever your age, know your own body and if something’s not right do something about it… don’t wait!”

Brian Davison, Dublin

You can support the Mater Hospital Foundation’s work in making a real difference to patient care by making a donation here – Support patient care | Mater Hospital Foundation (materfoundation.ie).

Simply chose what your happy to donate and select ‘Patient Stories’ from the ‘I’m donating to’ drop-down menu. Thank You!