I spent 13 years raising funds and awareness of bowel cancer, and now I have it myself

MICHEÁL Sheridan is eager to explain the significance of the Mercy University Hospital Foundation before telling his own story.

“I don’t think people always understand the work of our foundation. We work in several ways to improve the experience of patients of the hospital, and their families,” he said.

This can be around small differences that make a big impact, or more significant investments in the hospital.

“To give one example, during Covid we invested in iPads so isolating patients could their loved ones. We were hugely involved during Covid and raised a million euro through our Covid appeal in 2020. We are interested in the human side of being a patient.”

Their social work department focuses on ing families, including those who might be struggling financially due to an illness.

“They might need help with providing for their children returning to school for instance. The money can be small for us but hugely significant for a family at such a crucial time.”

The CEO explains that the foundation also provides funds for key equipment used in improving diagnosis and patient outcomes.

IN THE BEGINNING

From the start, Micheál ed the foundation as CEO when it was first established in 2007. During his initial tenure, which lasted 13 years, donations went from thousands of euros pre-2007 to anywhere between two or three million annually.

By developing a close working relationship with health care professionals and management within the Mercy University Hospital, the foundation knows how best to use donations.

“We have very regular consultation with consultants and nursing staff. 

We have projects that we identify as flagship projects, which we champion for two or three years. These are large multi-million-euro projects.

“Our next big one is around advancing surgery at the hospital.”

They also run a grants programme so staff can apply for funding directly.

“For example, a staff member might suggest paying for leaflets to explain a medical procedure. People working on the wards know what makes a difference. We want to make sure everyone is benefitting from the generosity of the public.”

GRATITUDE

“We talk a lot about facilitating gratitude. When people donate or run an event, a lot of it is borne out of having an experience with the hospital, either directly, or through family member.”

There is an underlying positive return for people donating also, he feels.

“We have collaborated with many people in the past who have lost a loved one. 

Fundraising sometimes helps them to cope in a way; they are kept busy and the person they are ing is at the centre of all of it. It provides something tangible for them.

The team at the foundation are very mindful of their recent experiences.

“We are very aware of the various stages of grief they might be working through. We concentrate on ensuring their wishes are fulfilled. And we also one another. We’re a chatty group, a ive network.”

A DIFFERENT CHALLENGE

Having just completed a Masters, Micheál decided to leave the role in 2020 and spent three years working with an air ambulance charity.

“I learned about starting again. I needed to know that I could still achieve what I had previously achieved. The focus in this role was also on funding as well as building trust and, again, we were highly successful. During my three years fundraising grew from €700,000 to two million euro.”

He is proud that the service still exists today and is now fully funded by the HSE. He is also particularly proud to have secured funding to off duty medical and first response staff to assist in their communities.

I feel grateful to have been involved in the full picture, whether it’s somebody needing care in an emergency or in a hospital, the quality of that care is important to me. I want to see our health service being as well-resourced as it can be.

Now Micheál is back as CEO at the foundation. When asked about his interest in healthcare, he links it back to his mother, who as well as working full time, worked as a civil defence instructor.

“I grew up in a house with lots of first aid kits and resuscitation mannequins. I suppose it had an impact. My mum would go out teaching first aid three or four times a week. I also feel strongly about healthcare because we are all going to need it at some point in our lives, so it needs to be as good as it can be.”

That time for Micheál happens to be now.

PERSONAL RELEVANCE

Last November, Micheál was understandably upset to receive a bowel cancer diagnosis. For the first time, he found himself on the other side of the hospital experience.

It is odd, he explains, to know the people treating him so well, including his own oncologist, who he counts as a friend.

There is an irony in it really. I spent 13 years raising funds and awareness of bowel cancer and now I have it myself.

Micheál was scanned using a CT scanner funded by the foundation. He is also receiving his chemotherapy in a facility ed by his work.

“I have my treatment in Lee Clinic on the Lee Road and I fully appreciate the difference it makes. It is so much less stressful to receive regular treatment away from an acute hospital setting. As it is not in the city centre, there is no traffic, no issue with parking. You arrive so much less stressed than you would if you had to attend the hospital every time. You are never worried about delays or not making it on time.”

He recognises the benefits his experience has brought to the team.

“It is helping me and the team to understand the patient perspective even more. It has also given me a real insight into the importance of blood donation. 

When I was first diagnosed, they found that I had suffered significant blood loss, and needed three transfusions.

“I had always thought about blood being needed in emergency trauma situations. I quickly realised it can also be for sick patients and for cancer sufferers like me.

“As a 50-year-old male with a needle phobia, I had never really thought of donating blood, but I was really overwhelmed with feeling when I received that donated blood, a feeling of gratitude to the stranger who had donated it.”

NEW BEGINNINGS

Micheál is delighted to return to the post now, just as a dream of his is coming into fruition.

“We got used to hearing a lot of cancer patients talking about not having anywhere to go, particularly on learning of their diagnosis, before or after appointments, or their family not having anywhere to wait for them.”

The foundation’s new cancer care centre, heavily funded by the public, and following two years of construction, opens on Dyke Parade shortly. “This is a place where the kettle will always be on. We hope it becomes like a second home for people.

“We had been funding a clinical psychologist to work in the hospital to look after cancer patients and their family , but this will be a dedicated space for our psycho-oncology service. A place where people can come following a diagnosis or during their treatment.

“The project overcame some barriers over the years, so it is wonderful to be back as it opens.”

https://www.mercyhospitalfoundation.ie/