'I thought it was a recurrence of old back pain' - Wexford principal on being diagnosed with incurable blood cancer

"I had never even heard of the disease when I was diagnosed, and that would be a very common thing with most people that I've spoken to."

"It was tricky to diagnose. It just presents as back pain initially and pains in the ribs and people put it down to any number of things."

"It is important to get checked out and to have an early diagnosis. Possible warning signs can be persistent bone pain, usually in the back, ribs or hips."

"Multiple myeloma is an incurable cancer but it's very treatable and you can live a relatively normal life and most people do with it."

Read at Irish Independent