Pianist plays 'chemo concerts' despite having no feeling in fingers from his own treatment
Louise Walsh
A skilled pianist is holding regular fundraising 'chemo concerts' in a Dublin oncology unit, despite the fact that he no longer has any feeling in his fingers due to his own treatment.
Multi-talented Donal Norton entertains other patients with his piano tunes at Dublin's Mater Hospital while he waits for his own maintenance chemotherapy for terminal multiple myeloma.
Any donations made during the 'chemo concerts' go towards cancer research.
Donal believes muscle memory helps him play the piano after intensive chemotherapy on the rare cancer numbed the nerves in his fingers and toes.
The musician, from Navan, Co. Meath, also underwent specialised stem cell treatment on his marrow in a gruelling clinical trial which essentially killed him before reviving him with new cells.
Multiple myeloma is a treatable but generally incurable blood cancer arising from plasma cells in the bone marrow, accounting for roughly one per cent of all cancers.
It causes abnormal protein production, bone destruction, kidney damage and anemia and common symptoms include bone fatigue, frequent infections and high calcium levels.
However, Donal didn't suffer from any symptoms and his cancer was detected in a routine health check that he undergoes regularly due to having a heart attack a number of years ago.
"I had an MRI as part of the check-up and a few days later I got a call from the medics to say I had a loose vertebrae. After further investigations and blood tests, I was told I had this cancer," he said.
"I used to be a stand-up comedian so I deal with things through humour. So I asked the doctor if I would lose my hair, which made her laugh as I'm bald."
Donal underwent smart chemo twice a week for five months before starting stem cell treatment.
"What happens is that you get side effects and no-one can predict what the side effects will be. One thing I learned from the whole experience is not to play poker with a nurse because their poker faces are brilliant. They know what can happen but don't want you to know because you will worry. They protect you like that.
"The initial blood test showed cancer cells that are usually measured on a scale of between two and nine. Mine was 3674.
"Everything happened so fast that I didn't have a chance to mull it over. It was like I was walking on a footpath and all of a sudden, the footpath turns into a helter skelter and you're going down at speed."
"The chemo meant I didn't sleep for six weeks, and I lost nerve cells in my feet and hands. On a typical night, I was doing 12000 steps just to try and tire my body out. I didn't look too far into the future. I didn't look into the past. I dealt with what was straight in front of me, one step at a time. I can only breathe in once.
Donal is now in remission but is still classed as having terminal cancer so has to undergo regular maintenance treatment at the oncology unit where he plays for other patients.
"It's pure muscle memory how I'm playing now. I don't read music so I'm using my ears and then muscle memory at the same time.
"When I go to get the maintenance, I get my bloods done at 7 am and have to wait for the results before the chemo so I'm hanging around for hours. I was asked by a lady in the Mater Foundation if I would play and sing for them so that's what I'm doing every two weeks. My chemo concerts"
"Every second Tuesday, we are entertained by the dulcet tones of Donal who plays our piano on Whitty Street and brightens up this very busy corridor before he heads up for his treatment." Angi McNulty, Community and Events Specialist, the Mater Hospital Foundation
