Inspirational Tipperary man is back in action after three year cancer battle

There is a great sense of togetherness surrounding the Clonmel Park Run community.
As participants gathered for their Saturday morning event after the holidays there was an uplifting atmosphere as they welcomed a dearly missed friend back to action.

It was the first run that Ed Prendergast had attended for three years.
He was making a welcome return to meet his running and walking friends after a three year battle with cancer.

SERIOUSLY ILL
It is just over three years since Ed first became seriously ill and quite suddenly with aggressive Non-Hodgins Lymphoma.
The journey has been a long and tortuous one involving a number of operations, chemotherapy and stem cell treatment.
“It is a miracle I am here today, back running and meeting my friends,” said Ed.

A beacon of positivity, Ed is appealing to people at the start of a new year to exercise and get out and meet people for their physical and mental well-being during 2024.
“When you are seriously ill you are isolated, you cannot do the simple things in life we all take for granted,” he said.
“Everything is taken away from you, family, home, work meeting people and doing the things I loved to do like walking and running,” he said.
His longest spell in hospital was four months and he was unable to attend the funeral of his mother Gertie as he was in hospital going through the stem cell treatment at the time.

HEARTBREAKING
“That was heartbreaking, she had just turned 90 and I could not go to her funeral,” he said.
During his battle Ed’s daughter was contacted three times and told to prepare for the worst by hospital consultants.
“It was a tough battle. There was times I thought I would not come through it. I could hardly write my name when I was getting the stem cell treatment. I remember at one stage during the stem cell treatment that I did not have the energy or the mental strength to brush my teeth, I was that low,” he said.

Ed is currently off all treatments and his last bout of chemotherapy along with a cocktail of drugs coincided with the stem cell treatment, which was last May 12 months ago and saw him hospitalised for six weeks in St James, Dublin.
Post stem cell involved months of essentially existing.

INSPIRATIONAL
“The body has no energy, the least effort at a basic task now requiring huge effort, time and planning. Any sudden movement resulted in gasping for air. And the immune system practically zero. Great care had to be taken in a bid to try and avoid infection,” said the inspirational Kilsheelan man.
Ed’s recovery period here lasted sixteen months before he felt there was a pick up. During this period while the patient remains at home, there are many hospital visits and check-ups to both hospitals St James Dublin and the Cherry Ward Waterford.

EXTRAORDINARY WORK
“All the staff in the hospitals that I was in did extraordinary work. All hospital staff do on a weekly basis and continue to do for other patients and it pains me to turn on the RTE news channel to hear people giving out unfairly about the HSE staff,” said Ed.
During 2023, along with his medical team, Ed greatly benefited from the advice of Alan Murphy who tweaked his diet, herbs/vits and encouraged him to embark on a fitness recovery programme starting with Tai Chi early in the year, branching out to include gym work which now sees Ed participating in the Solas Cancer Centre ExWell fitness classes twice a week in the WIT Sports Arena.

REGULAR EXERCISE
He has noticed huge improvement since he incorporated regular exercise into his weekly life during his recovery.
Ed has also used the Energy Enhancement System located in south Tipperary a number of times.
Currently, Dr Noel McCaffrey, former Dublin footballer-,leads these ExWell courses around the country.
“The classes involve such a variety every week, and as the weeks are going by, there is such a noticeable improvement health wise in all participants and the classes are so enjoyable and everyone making new friends,” said Ed.
Ed says he is now in such an improved physical shape and will continue to up his weekly training programme.
And this is one of Ed’s wishes as so many people kept encouraging him throughout his illness, Ed would like to see everyone involve regular exercise in their own lives during 2024 and enjoy the benefits.

UPLIFTING
“It is hard to explain how uplifting it was for me to receive so many get well cards, phone calls, text messages from people wishing me the best when I was going through the treatment. Every message meant a lot to me and it helped me get through it,” said Ed. He is thrilled to be back doing some work, back out in circulation meeting friends and taking part in the Park Run and other activities he was used to doing before serious illness struck.
“It is great to be back, I am enjoying every minute of it,” said Ed.