IF you had been watching him out on the field this time last year, refereeing a game of football, you wouldn’t have noticed anything unusual about Brian Canavan.
He was his usual affable self: Never short of a bit of chat, a wise crack or a thoughtful and well-informed observation, especially when it came to his twin sporting passions of Gaelic Football and horseracing.
You wouldn’t have noticed anything amiss and he didn’t want you to.
He was determined that his life would go on as it always had but beneath the surface there was serious concern for him and his family because Brian had been diagnosed with prostate cancer and was waiting on the call for his treatment to start.
Thankfully, that treatment has been a success and the Poyntzpass native is now planning a cycle to generate funds for Prostate Cancer UK and Friends of the Cancer Centre which he hopes will also raise awareness of the need for men over 50 to get themselves tested for what is a stealthy and silent, but often preventable, killer.
Last summer, as far as Brian knew he was in good health but his wife Geraldine encouraged (he says “tortured”) him to get tested for Prostate Cancer and, after some gentle persuasion, he did just that and went along for what he says is a simple blood test.
He hoped and expected a routine ‘Everything’s fine’ response but it turned out to be much more complicated than that. The results of the initial test were inconclusive and, after further scans and appointments, he awaited a diagnosis.
He was at the Sligo Races on the 15th of August last year when he got the phonecall from the consultant and there was no way of sugar-coating the news he gave him: “You’ve got prostrate cancer and you’re going to have to get treatment…”
Of course it was a hammerblow but the good news was that, thanks to Geraldine, the cancer had been identified early and that meant it was treatable.
“It was a shock,” says Brian, an Ulster Championship winner with Armagh as a player and manager.
“But it was treatable, that was the big thing, and it could be treated with medication. It was a long stretch until the treatment started because they have to do tests to make sure it’s not in your bones or elsewhere. I had several scans for different things and, lucky enough, they all came out clear other than the cancer in the prostate.
“The treatment started last August and by Christmas they had put me on injections and I had 20 sessions of radiotherapy in the City Hospital. There was something like 250 people-a-day in there getting dealt with in the City and I was sitting in the middle of them.
“You could see some people really worried – of course everybody is worried, don’t get me wrong – but some people are in worse situations than others. Some people deal with it differently and the treatment affects people differently.
“The treatment isn’t hard, there’s no pain with it and when you’re sitting in the hospital you can have a bit of craic which shortens the journey because everybody knows they’re sitting in the same boat and they don’t mind talking about things – nobody is afraid to talk about things – and now I have no problem talking about it which is a good thing.
“One guy along with me, his affects were worse than mine – he was very, very tired and it took an awful lot out of him. I think because I was fairly fit that was a big asset to me.
“It was a long, drawn-out treatment but the thing is that once you’re diagnosed early you have a good chance of getting sorted out.
“The consultant rang me yesterday (Thursday) and said they were happy with all the results they had from the latest tests they did. I had done a blood test and it was all good. I’ll still have to be monitored for a couple of years but, so far, I have come out well.”
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IT’S a good news story and that is all down to his wife persisting that he should go to get tested. Without the early warning his story could have turned out differently so now Brian is keen to encourage everyone over the age of 50 to sign up for what he says is a simple procedure.
“Prostate Cancer can hit anybody,” he said.
“One in eight men will get it – that’s nearly two in a football team, in every football team. That’s the way I look at it and that’s the scary thing, it can come to any of us so the secret is to catch it early. I’ve been saying to men of my era, people I played football with who didn’t want to go to the doctor: ‘Go and get it done, it’s not hard, it’s only a blood test and it’s unobtrusive’. If they get it early it can be treated.”
Since his cancer story came out, Brian has had messages from friends from home and abroad who decided to follow his lead and get tested – some of those tests have come back positive and so they have turned to the former Orchard county star for advice.
“People have contacted me to see what the treatment process is and if you talk through it, it helps them to realise what is in front of them,” he explained.
“When you meet other people along the way who have had similar experiences and you can talk to them it is a good help to anyone. If anybody is in the same position, they shouldn’t be afraid to give me a shout because if I can help, I would be delighted to."
A KEEN recreational cyclist, Brian has sdecided to cycle from his bar in Poyntzpass to the City Hospital to raise awareness of the risks of Prostate Cancer and, as he puts it, “get a few pound gathered up” for two charities that do so much good work.
“They were very good to me whenever I was there,” he said.
“Myself and Geraldine normally cycle around 15-miles a day and that’s exactly what we’re doing for the cycle to Belfast. We'll do it in stages and we’ll end up at the City Hospital on August 31, all being well.”
He’s on standby as a referee this weekend as the Armagh club championships get underway with senior, intermediate and junior clashes across the county. Next weekend he is down to take charge of the Tullysarran versus Belleek intermediate clash.
He took up refereeing after stepping away from management. As a player he reached All-Ireland semi-final level with Armagh and continued to play at club level until he was well into his 40s. By then, along with his former team-mate Brian McAlinden, he was in the process of taking Armagh to the brink of an All-Ireland final - his teams were beaten by the eventual Sam Maguire winners three years in-a-row.
He brings a wealth of experience to his officiating and is one of the busiest referees in Armagh at a time when officials are scarce in the county.
Someone who knows the rules inside out, he understands them and applies them with a commonsense approach that means he is able to communicate easily with players and allow the game to flow at every opportunity.
Throughout his treatment, after he’d driven to the City Hospital, gone through radiation therapy and returned home again tired and weary, he was determined to continue refereeing when he was called upon.
And so, he got his gear on, grabbed his whistle and his notebook and headed away to Grange or Ballyhegan or Cullyhanna or wherever the county board needed him.
Getting out on the field, right in the middle of all the hurly burly of a game of football is just where he likes to be. It's his way of clearing his head.
“I never stopped,” he said.
“I did maybe two games a week – whatever matches came my way I was able to take them, I didn’t refuse any matches because of the treatment. I wanted to keep doing the things I was doing because once you hear that dreaded word cancer you can crack-up. But once you get out on the bike, or get out to the football, it takes your mind away from those things and you are able to deal with them better.”
If you would like to contribute to Brian’s charity cycle in aid of Prostate Cancer UK and Friends of the Cancer centre you can donate on Just Giving or by following this link: https://www.justgiving.com/page/brian-canavan-1689628158199
