Brave dad loses his battle for life
A young father-of-three, who won the hearts of the county two years ago with his determination to fight a cancer for which doctors had told him there was no cure, passed away last week at Galway Hospice, with his family by his side.
James Hastings from Crushoa, Kinvara, had fought so hard to defy the medics – and the health system which had denied him potentially lifesaving drugs for his rare cancer, because he has no health insurance.
James – up to then a fit and healthy 41-year-old man running his tyre company, TyreAware in Ballindereen, and hugely involved with Kinvara United FC – was told in June 2023 that he had Stage 4 Cholangiocarcinoma or bile duct cancer.
He had experienced jaundice-like symptoms the day before his son Ben’s First Communion – and his oncologist compounded the shock by telling him there was no treatment available other than palliative care to manage his symptoms for the end of his life.
“He basically said go enjoy your life, book a holiday, get ready to die,” said James, father of Eoin, Ben and Joey, at the time.
“When I said I wasn’t happy with only doing palliative care he told me the stance from the HSE for what I have is only palliative care – and if I wanted to do anything else I had to go research it myself and present them with any clinical trials out there.”
Just five per cent of people with his diagnosis respond to immunotherapy so he paid for private tests overseas to check the DNA of his cancer – and discovered that he fell into this tiny category.
But as a public patient, the HSE would not provide the drug Durvalumab which helps the immune system kill cancer cells and is already used in Irish hospitals to treat lung cancer – because it wasn’t licenced here for his condition.
James and his wife Marian Hastings set up a website, www.jamesfightsback.ie, to document their campaign to get access to the treatment – and they went public to attract public support, which poured in for them as they fought to the last.
But in the early hours of Thursday morning week last, James passed away in the care of Galway Hospice, with his heartbroken family by his side.
His Requiem Mass was celebrated in St. Colman's Church, Kinvara, followed by a ceremony at Shannon Crematorium.
He is survived by Marian and their sons Eoin, Ben, and Joey, his sister Elizabeth, mother Jannette, extended family and friends.
Pictured: The late James Hastings.