Miracle cancer survivor helping others to make a new start in life

When the residents of new council houses in Clonmel walked into their homes for the first time there was a meaningful and surprise gift waiting for them.
In the empty houses at Glenconnor Hill they found a book placed on the window sill. It was the only item in the house, a welcoming and very personal gift.
The book entitled, Cancer 4 Me 5, is a remarkable story about Liam Ryan’s battle against cancer, and staring up at them from the front cover was the picture of the man who had designed their new home, a man with an incredible story of survival to tell.
Liam, a keen runner with six marathons behind him, was given a month to live after being diagnosed with stage 4 head and neck cancer and, after a miraculous story of survival and recovery, nineteen years on Liam is an inspiration to all who meet him, including the residents of Glenconnor Hill.
CLIMB THE MOUNTAIN
“May you always climb the mountain in front of you” was the simple and motivational handwritten message Liam wrote on each book for the new resident to reflect on as they began a new chapter in their lives.
Moving into a new home or your first home is a daunting and exciting experience .
It represents a new beginning and Liam Ryan, Senior Executive Architect with Tipperary County Council, knows better than most about reaching out and embracing a new beginning and doing all that is humanly possible to make the most of a second chance in life.
Liam Ryan is fully appreciative of the fact that a good number of the tenants at Glenconnor Hill have had to endure difficult life challenges.
Liam has a deep empathy and understanding of the distress and the trauma some tenants have experienced on their respective journeys and he hopes that these houses will give them a foundation and the stability for a new start in life.
He takes enormous personal satisfaction, way and above the professional fulfillment he had from being part of a county council team that delivered the biggest social housing project in Clonmel for almost 20 years, in making a difference to people’s lives.
Making a deep connection with people for Liam is much, much more than just doing his job and having played a role in enabling people to take on a new start in life brings him great joy.
Unusually for an author, Liam would have personally met most of the people in possession of his book.
Those in possession of the publication, now including the residents of Glenconnor Hill, can all easily relate to Liam.
He is a very ordinary man, a family man, in a job he loves, enjoys a pint, is an avid music enthusiast and a passionate soccer man.
He enjoys bringing a powerful message to people and having a positive influence on them.
Liam believes the mountain analogy he uses in the personal message he gave to each resident is appropriate.
“We all love mountains but they are not easily mastered. As people in life we always seem to be going uphill, you never seem to conquer it. So when I came through what I did I just realised that life is not easy for anybody,” he said.

“I have a great perspective now. I value every day. Every day is really an extra day I shouldn’t have had and I think there are a lot of benefits to a survival story and one is that I just try and do the best I can for everybody I can as much as I can.”
Every day Liam speaks to cancer patients all over the world to bring guidance, support and comfort to their lives. It is something he loves doing and he is in much demand as a speaker at schools, universities, businesses and medical conferences.
It is a bonus for him that in his day job he can also have a powerful impact on the lives of people on his own doorstep through his job as an architect with Tipperary County Council.
When South and North Tipperary County Councils amalgamated it became such a sizeable entity that it could employ its own architect.
Liam and his wife Pam, both architects, had their own business but they both decided to apply for the position and Liam was offered the Clonmel-based job in 2016.
The Glenconnor site was the first one he was given to work on.
He feels that almost a year since the first residents moved in there are signs of a community forming and the beginning of something special.
PROVIDING STABILITY
“The houses have provided stability to a lot of people who had neither a house nor a community around them. For all of us before you take on life, you need a foundation underneath and I’m hoping Glenconnor Hill has become that foundation for a lot of people that didn’t have it before and that they can now start to get on with their lives,” said Liam.
A MONTH TO LIVE
Liam explains that he was effectively gifted a second life nineteen years ago after being told he had a month to live and there was no hope as he was in stage four of head and neck cancer.
Liam, a man with wife Pam and three young boys - Christy, Lowell and Abe, at the time, remembers the moment his life changed for the worse.
Persistent headaches involved a number of trips to the GP and the dentist in April 2002.
Eventually he was sent to Limerick University Hospital for a standard sinus wash treatment. A routine procedure for the hospital, an in and out job Liam believed.
“So here I was, two nights in hospital, routine procedure.
“Stack of newspapers I didn’t get a chance to read from the previous week beside me, Toblerones, Walnut Whirls you name it.
“ It seemed like it was only one notch down from a mini hotel break,” said Liam.
However the mood changed very quickly for Liam as his consultant Professor John Fenton, who he had been laughing and joking with 24 hours earlier, arrived.
“So here I was sitting up on the bed, a big smile across my face, I saw him coming down the hallway and it all just started there. My life, as I had known it, suddenly began to unravel.
“He walked up over to me, pulled the curtain right around the bed and leaned right down into me.
“Then he quietly uttered six words that changed the course of my life in a way that would have been inconceivable to me at the time.
“Liam Ryan, this is very serious,” were the words his consultant spoke to him.
Back to the present day and Liam is very much getting on with his life.
Renowned oncologists identify his survival, recovery and the quality of life he has enjoyed for so long as one of the most remarkable cancer success stories they have ever come across.
“I see things differently now and I am here to use that second life to the benefit of as many other people as I can.
“I know there are people in Glenconnor at the moment who have faced enormous personal difficulties, I do have an affinity with them because it was where I was myself ,” said Liam.
MAKE A DIFFERENCE
“I wanted to give people somewhere lovely to live and that was what I tried to do from the very early design stages.
“I wanted to make a difference to their lives. It wasn’t just about giving people a house to get you out of the housing crisis. It was going to add to your life, as opposed to just giving you a roof over your head,” said Liam.
The first thing that struck Liam when he walked onto the blank canvas of the Glenconnor site was the stunning panoramic aspect of the Comeragh Mountains.
“That stunning view just hits you immediately. I set out to achieve a layout of the houses that would allow every resident to avail fully of that spectacular sight,” said Liam.
He somehow persuaded the Department of Housing to allow him to design a scheme with the houses on the north side of the site with no houses opposite them so as not to obstruct the view of the mountains.
“If we could achieve that it would directly influence the quality of the estate and the quality of life of the residents,” said Liam.
The project involved the construction of 26 houses by Semiton and Van Dijk architects were engaged for the implementation stage.
The project consists of a mix of three and four-bed family homes and single storey two-bedroom houses.
Liam broke up the layout of the houses into two curves to give a village feel about it and a sense of community.
“I wanted those houses to look out onto an open green amenity in the immediate foreground and the much more dramatic amenity of the mountains in the distance,” said Liam.
“There was a wonderful team involved in delivering this project and that combined with the assistance of the Department of Housing ensured the project was a major success,” he said.
The houses have been shortlisted for an Irish Council for Social Housing Community Housing Award.
It is the second time the Glenconnor Hill project, which was completed in July 2020, has been shortlisted for a national award.

Fresh start in new home has made the 'world of difference' to Holly and her family

The Carroll family epitomise the story of a family taking on the challenge of a new start in life.
Their daughter Holly received the most wonderful gift in April last year of a new heart and that transplant enabled the family to look to the future after years of unbearable stress.
A few months later that new start in life was given another enormous lift when the family were told they were to be given a new house by Tipperary County Council in Glenconnor Hill.
“This house has made the world of difference to our lives,” said Jessica.
For up to three years the Clonmel family had to basically live in Dublin because of Holly’s illness.
“It was very difficult for us all to be away from Clonmel for so long. The house we did have in Clonmel was damp and just not suitable for Holly.
“It was such a thrill to move into a modern, new house with such an amazing view of the mountains,”said Jessica.
“We have all got to know Liam since we moved in. He is an amazing person, he would give you a great lift and hope,” said Jessica.
Another resident, Selina, who moved into Glenconnor Hill with Anthony and Leah and Alannah, said she was absolutely delighted to be given the house and had settled into the area in the last year.
“I was six years on the list. I was absolutely delighted to get a place that we can now call home.
“The girls are thrilled to have their own bedroom and we now have stability in our lives. When you are in rented accommodation you just don’t know when you could be told to find another place to live so to get the new house was fantastic.
“The girls are happier and we are all delighted,” said Selina.
Ten-year-old Nour al huda Hejazi, from Syria, said she was thrilled to be living in Clonmel in such a beautiful new house.
“It is a lovely home and the people living here are so nice and friendly,” said Nour who goes to school at the Sisters of Charity.
“I have made a lot of friends in school and I am enjoying living in Clonmel,” said Nour.
“My family moved out of the hotel in Roscommon that we were living in. We were one of the last families to leave.
“We moved into this new house in February. We are so happy to be here. It is a new life for us,” said Nour.

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