Ireland AM host, Mark Cagney has revealed that he has been diagnosed with a chronic condition. Speaking on the The Six O’Clock Show this week he shared that he suffers from Haemochromatosis.
Chatting about his health on the show he said; “I started in Ireland AM in my early forties and obviously you’re getting up at three or four in the morning so you are knackered because it throws your body clock out of kilter.”
“I had young kids, life was turned upside down and I felt like the stuff you step on in the street and you don’t want to bring into your house that’s how I felt all the time.”
Realising that the constant symptoms he was experiencing like stomach problems. mood swings and constant fatigue were not shifting he said; “I thought this is going to kill me if I don’t either give it up or find out what’s causing it.”
“So I was having various tests done and all the rest of it and one of the blood tests came back with very high liver fats.”
Sharing that he was then diagnosed with Haemochromatosis he said; “It tends to happen or develop in mid to late 30s early 40s at a time when people are stressed and with young kids and they’re at a juncture in their career they’re thinking, ‘That’s life, of course I’m going to be tired’.”
The 65-year-old continued; “When it does present it presents as a problem in the kidneys or the liver or a problem in the heart or a problem in your pancreas. Certainly, when I was diagnosed, my GP had heard nothing of it didn’t know anything about it at all.”
Most importantly, whilst on the show, he shared that he wanted to discuss it to encourage viewers to get tested themselves; “because it is the most prevalent genetic fault in the Irish population, one in five of us carry this gene.”
“It’s very simple, get a pinprick blood test done in your GP and check it out,” he added.
