The whole of Cork is behind this teenager's fight for life ahead of surgery in America
All of Cork is rooting for 18-year-old Aaron McMahon whose major operation on his rare brain tumour takes place tomorrow in Pittsburgh in the US.
Aaron and his family were forced to seek help stateside after he could not receive surgery here in Ireland and would have faced palliative care.
When Aaron could not get any help from the country he lived in, he took it upon himself to go public on his condition Chordoma, a rare type of cancer that occurs in the bones of the skull, and a GoFundMe page soon had over €142,000 raised.
The life-saving surgery that Aaron needs could not be carried out in Ireland so they moved to Pittsburgh on June 9 in order to have the surgery done in the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC).
His father Paul told RedFM's Neil Prendeville that he is "anxious and very nervous" ahead of Aaron's surgery but "optimistic" that they have been given this chance.
Having been informed that the surgery is doable and hearing of the success stories of those who previously underwent identical surgeries, the McMahon family are feeling positive.
The surgeon taking on the eight to 10-hour-long surgery has performed over 100 identical surgeries to date.
Paul said that back in Ireland the battle was over as far as they [the HSE] were concerned.
"We reached out to the Chordoma Foundation in America and they helped find a list of surgeons and one of them offered to help Aaron."
He said that they were told that palliative care was the only route for Aaron in Ireland.
He commended UPMC hospital and its staff on how well-informed they had been on the run-up to the surgery and that during surgery, there would be screens to page what stage Aaron is at, keeping his family informed throughout.
"The technology over here is superior to anything we've ever witnessed in other hospitals," he said.
Speaking to Neill, Aaron said he was nervous ahead of the surgery but that he was relieved and thankful to be where he is.
"I don't know how we got here, to be honest," he told Neill.
He joked that everything in Pittsburgh was better than Ireland including the weather and that his energy levels were up after coming off large amounts of morphine and steroids.
Messages of support from his friends and family back home have been flooding in through text and social media and Aaron is keeping up to date with everyone back home.
We wish Aaron the very best of luck with his operation and for a speedy recovery.
We are all behind you, buddy.
