When Tod O’Connor started to have a stroke while working in 2024, he never would have imagined that stroke would lead to an even scarier health situation, the discovery of stage 4 colorectal cancer.
In fact, he’d later learn his stroke was caused by the cancer that had been growing in his bowel and had even spread to his liver.
Tod’s wife rushed him to the PA when he called her for help while the stroke was happening, the hospital’s emergency and cardiology teams helping nurse him through that worrisome episode, with a stent placed in via surgery.
It was a medication his treatment team at the PA prescribed to help lower his cholesterol levels that would ultimately help identify there was another, potentially more concerning problem that would need to be dealt with.
The Brisbane grandfather noticed bleeding from his bowel after starting the medication and after several medication changes didn’t alter the issue, further investigation identified he had cancer.
“We changed the medication several times, but it still was bad. My GP recommended that I go and get some tests and that's when it was discovered that I'd actually had stage four colorectal cancer,” he explained.
“It was a major shock and evidently the cancer thickens the blood and that's what led to the stroke.
“I hadn't had any signs or anything like that previously. To be honest, I hadn't done the bowel tests either, but I didn't think that was necessary given that I hadn't had any bleeding or anything like that previously.
“There's some spots on my liver and that's the secondary cancer. The primary cancer is in my colorectal region. That was June 2025. It was one year after the stroke that we eventually got into the PA and got tested and that's when it was realised I had cancer.”
Cancer treatment is hard on anyone and though Tod described it as ‘pretty brutal’, he had nothing but praise for the care of his Oncologist Professor Ken O’Byrne and all of the cancer services and radiation oncology staff at the PA. He was also grateful to the supporters of the Foundation for their generosity towards the hospital, which has improved the care of patients like himself.
“I've done 12 infusions over a six-month period, where you sit in the chair for two hours and get an infusion of chemo and then you get a bottle. You get a bottle and you take that home and you do another 36 to 48 hours of chemo infusion. I’ve then done five days a week for five weeks, of radiation therapy combined with chemo drugs as well. I've had subsequently had scans done and I meet with the liver surgeon about the spots on my liver soon.
“I'm a fairly fit, lean, healthy guy and I think that that's helped me enormously through the process. At one stage a doctor who was seeing me when Ken was travelling overseas, he, saw me and he said to me, “Just stand up and lift your shirt up”.
“I did, and he said, “Look, I wish all of our patients were as lean and as fit as you”. I think that that has helped me enormously through all of this.
“But the support and the care and the friendliness and the banter that I've received from all of the team, the nurses, in particular, has been absolutely fantastic.
“The health system that we have in Australia is beyond reproach. It's just a fantastic health system, but it has its limitations. So, any support that can be given by donors to help the PA Research Foundation is gratefully accepted.
“It's all of the teams, the facilities, support staff, admin staff, and all of the procedures there, are just done at the highest level professionally and with good humour at the PA, I can't fault it.”
You can support the cardiology and cancer services departments at the PA Hospital to care for more patients like Tod by making the Foundation your place to give here.
