Former Leitrim goalkeeper Martin McHugh says that Gaelic football saved his life at a time when he thought his days were coming to an end.
McHugh was in goal when John O'Mahony’s side famously triumphed in the 1994 Connacht SFC title and now, at 52, he is still playing club football.
It has been a long and winding road since that landmark win.
Fifteen years on from that famous Nestor Cup victory, he was diagnosed with testicular cancer.
It was an arduous route back. He underwent two operations and three months of intense chemotherapy to recover, losing all his hair and suffering from vomiting and diarrhea.
McHugh admits he found it extremely tough.
In 2015, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer – a diagnosis that was thankfully made early. A few months later he had another operation to remove his prostate.
"Football is my oxygen and my drug," he says, "and it saved me when I thought my life was going to end. Simple as that.
"It gave me so much discipline to look after myself and if I didn’t have the GAA when I was diagnosed with testicular cancer in 2009, I probably would have died and would be pushing up daisies right now. It’s a scary thought but I think it’s the truth."
McHugh is still playing football for Aughnasheelin and will soon release his life story entitled, 'Born to Save’ co-written by GAA journalist Jason Byrne.
The book is a compelling love story centred around the GAA, his life and family and his experiences of working at Sligo General Hospital as a care assistant over the past two years, working in the frontline in the fight against Covid-19.
This was what was going to keep me alive. I had to live for. I got a pep in my step going to coach a team I didn't even know well
One winter’s night during his recovery from cancer, McHugh was asked to coach Cavan club side, Kilnaleck.
He was so sick that he was rooted to the bed and could hardly stand, but nonetheless agreed to do it.
The moment he entered the football field, 30 minutes before the session, he felt energy surge through him.
"I knew then," he said. "This was what was going to keep me alive. I had to live for.
"I got a pep in my step going to coach a team I didn't even know well. It gave me a new lease of life and I had something to aim for."
McHugh also recounts his experience working in the frontline as the pandemic raged.
"2020 and 2021 in particular were really hectic because staff across the board in every hospital were burnt out with the same routine every day and people with minor problems coming in or calling for an ambulance for trivial problems as others were seriously ill were really piling pressure on everyone.
"The pandemic evolved all the time. At the start it was chaos and no more were people arriving with simple things like a sore leg or a bee sting because they were afraid to go near the place.
"As the months went on and the restrictions loosened up a bit, people started coming back to the hospital with those minor problems. But what is very frustrating from our point of view is that every day the hospital is struggling with staff numbers and people are coming in with problems that their own doctor would be able to sort for them.
"The pressure in the hospital from the accident and emergency department to every ward, right to the intensive care unit is immense and every person that comes in with a small problem intensifies that pressure every single time."
