An Irishman has told how he rushed himself to hospital with chest pains hoping he had Covid-19 - before being diagnosed with terminal cancer.
New dad Daryl Smith, 31, bravely beat melanoma in 2018 and welcomed his third child just weeks ago.
The mechanic, who lives in Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin, fell ill as his wife was heavily pregnant and feared he may miss the birth if he had actually picked up the virus.
However, Daryl was hit with the heartbreaking news that his cancer had returned and is now incurable.
He said: “I thought I was having a heart attack so I drove myself to A&E.
"First the doctor thought it was Covid, I was praying it was that or pneumonia.
“We were creeping up to my partner Laura having the baby and I was thinking, if I have Covid, I can’t see the baby being born, but on the bright side, I’ll hopefully get over it because I’m young and healthy.
“When they said it was Covid negative, I thought well maybe it’s pneumonia.
"After they saw the scans, they were certain it was cancer.
"They told me they saw a lesion sitting on the top of my lung and that simulated a heart attack by touching on the chest nerves.”
He went in to Beaumont Hospital a few days later to see an oncologist, who sadly confirmed the illness was terminal.
Daryl added: “That day, I sat down to a meeting that I never expected.
“He looked me in the eye and asked, ‘How do you want this meeting to go?’ I just said, ‘Tell me what it is.’
"And he just said, ‘It’s incurable cancer. It’s treatable for an amount of time on autoimmune therapy, but it’s terminal.’”
However, there is a glimmer of hope for Daryl who's hoping to receive revolutionary treatment in Hungary.
He has been undergoing autoimmune therapy, which uses the power of the immune system to fight cancer and although it will not cure his cancer it may extend his life by “a few years”.
The proud dad is staying positive for his children Callie, three, Ella, one, and newborn son Louie, and his is providing regular updates via his Instagram page Mindset of a Lion.
And his friends have rallied to raise funds so Daryl can travel to Hungary to receive the best care.
Daryl told the Irish Sun: “The doctors said, ‘Oh we can manage it for a few years, we had a lad coming in for the last six years’.
"That’s fine but my oldest daughter will be nine in six years and I’ll only be 37 and that’s not good enough. I’ll throw the kitchen sink at this.
“They have a treatment in Hungary, where they make your body alkaline so that nothing can grow and that seems to be the best treatment for what I have.”
You can donate to his GoFundMe page Mindset of a Lion, which has so far raised €22,000, here.
