Cork family fundraise for Mercy in memory of their loved one, who died aged 28

MERCY Heroes is the inspiring initiative that brings communities together annually to Mercy University Hospital Foundation, and aims to make a meaningful impact on the lives of those being treated at the hospital.

Ian Brown died age 28 on January 16, 2021, from cancer. His family have raised almost €30,000 since he ed away, and funds raised by them now help other cancer patients at the Mercy’s University Hospital’s oncology day unit.

Ian was his sister’s hero. 

“He was the protective big brother,” says Chloe, from Ballincollig.

“We always thought he was shy, but hearing the nurses talking, we now know Ian wasn’t that shy after all! The nurses at the Mercy didn’t treat Ian as a patient, they treated him as a friend.”

Ian died too young.

“I was 23,” says Chloe. “And our younger brother, Niall, was 20. Ian was diagnosed with cancer in July, he was 25 at the time.”

She said her brother was very brave, throughout his illness.

Ian was loving life before he got sick.

He had gone back to college, and he worked at An Spailpin Fánach at the weekends.

Ian was thoughtful.

“He met a man in the hospital who needed counselling. It cost €150, but the man couldn’t afford it. , Ian organised a fundraiser, raising almost €5,000,” says Chloe who was always proud of her big brother.

She re when he was ill.

“Ian had been sick for quite some time, but nothing showed up in his bloods,” says Chloe.

“It was all pushed out a bit regarding sending him for tests, etc. He travelled to Spain, and he became extremely unwell there. My parents took him to hospital in Alicante and they recommended that Ian return home to his doctor as they suspected a tumour.”

What happened then?

“From then on it was a lot of confusion,” says Chloe.

“Unfortunately, we were thrown a bit back and forth, so Ian decided to move to the Mercy for a second opinion. Professor Derek Power was recommended by another hospital.”

Professor Power became Ian’s hero.

Before moving to the Mercy, Ian had been told he had three months to live, possibly six with treatment, but that essentially there was nothing much that could be done.

When the family met Professor Power, things were different. Like the nurses at the Mercy, the doctor became a friend and confidante to Ian.

Ian was able to ask him the hard questions.

“Ian asked Derek Power if he had three months to live. Derek promised to give him as much time as he could,” says Chloe.

He fulfilled his promise.

“Two and a half years later, when Ian ed away, Professor Power was still checking up on him, and even then never told him there was nothing he could do. He gave Ian such positivity and reassurance that we’re forever grateful for,” says Chloe.

“We really believe that is partly how Ian had so much ‘borrowed time’, as he called it.”

What kind of cancer did Ian suffer from?

“Ian had sarcoma, which had started in the muscle of his bowel but unfortunately spread really quickly,” says Chloe.

What were his options?

“No operations were options,” says Chloe. “But he received numerous rounds of chemotherapy in the Mercy, moving to Brookfield during Covid, and had radiotherapy in CUH. When the treatments did not seem to help anymore, Derek Power sent Ian for a trial test to see if he was suitable.”

Unfortunately, he wasn’t, and it was only then that Ian said he was ready to give up treatment.

Ian was a hero.

“He never gave up until he could,” says Chloe.

Her brother felt at home in the Mercy Hospital.

“Ian adored all the nurses and the staff at the Mercy,” says Chloe.

Ian was your typical guy.

“He was embarrassed at the start as a lot of the nurses were the same age as him, but they never treated him as different to them,” says Chloe.

“Ian loved chatting to them all about Love Island or anything that wasn’t to do with his illness.”

Everyone at the hospital looked out for Ian.

In January, 2021, when Ian had become very unwell, the hospital helped us to take him home so we could spend his last few days as a family.

“On Saturday, January 21, shortly after 7pm, Ian didn’t wake up from his sleep. He went so peacefully, and we received so many letters, emails, messages and from both staff and patients at The Mercy,” says Chloe.

“We got so much comfort from this as we saw they were a community, and shared a bond based on things only they would understand.”

Ian’s little brother, Niall, was only 20 when Ian ed.

Chloe said: “Niall had an urge to check the notes app on his phone for some unknown reason to us. Ian had written a note on the day he went for a test to see if he was suitable for a trial and it simply said, ‘Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.’ That is what we Ian by.”

Ian will always be ed as a hero. A very special hero.

Funds raised this year during the Mercy Heroes Campaign, on Friday, October 20, will go directly to the Teens and Young Adult Appeal, which s young patients of the Hospital through the challenges that serious illness brings. See www.mercyhospitalfoundation.ie