Ireland AM chef Joe Shannon has revealed he’s been diagnosed with terminal cancer.
The Sligo native was diagnosed with stage three bowel cancer in March 2021 and started treatment, before they found another tumour on his liver.
Speaking to his colleagues Muireann O’Connell and Alan Hughes on Ireland AM, Joe explained: “I ended up with a second bout of surgery and unfortunately I had a lot of complications after that.”
“I spent a month in hospital, I was in ICU, I had been given the last rites. My mother appeared to me that night, I think she was there to tell me my time wasn’t yet.”
Joe went on to finish his treatment and got the all clear, but a few months later his cancer returned.
“That summer, I wasn’t feeling well. They did more tests and found out that the cancer had come back to the exact same spot in the bowel,” he explained.
“They ideally would’ve liked to do surgery and chemotherapy to take the tumour out, but because of all the complications I had previously, surgery was ruled out.”
“I did six very heavy sessions of chemotherapy in the hopes it would kill the cancer that was there and that finished last February.”
Sadly, the chemotherapy failed to kill the cancer cells, and doctors informed the 58-year-old his cancer was terminal.
“The options were to continue with a lifetime of chemotherapy,” he explained, or else he would have “about six months” to live.
Joe decided to continue undergoing chemo, but admitted he doesn’t know how long he will live for.
“It could be one year, it could be seven years,” he said. “It all depends how my body takes to the chemotherapy, because it’s a big ask of my body to continue with that.”
“But that said, there are lots of people who have had chemo for 15 years or more. And who’s to say that in that time some new piece of research may come along? But if it doesn’t happen, it doesn’t happen. I’m not scared of death.”
“I’ve been very lucky in life, I’m 58 years of age and have had a fantastic life. Life owes me nothing.”
The TV chef also urged viewers at home to go get themselves checked, as he stressed: “Early prevention in any illness is key.”
