A DUBLIN nun given a 5 per cent chance of surviving breast cancer in 2001 has told a jury that she is clear of cancer after successfully undergoing laser treatment at Paschal Carmody's clinic in Co Clare.
At Ennis Circuit Court yesterday, Sr Theresa Healy told the court how Mr Carmody's photodynamic therapy (PDT) treatment "zapped her cancers" during two sessions in 2001.
On the 14th day of the trial of Mr Carmody (60), Ballycuggeran, Killaloe, Sr Healy said: "I have no cancer now and I feel more healthy now than I've done for 30 years. I'm clear." During her PDT sessions, "the light for some miraculous reason was drawn to the cancers and got rid of them.
"That was for me everything. I was delighted."
Sr Healy said Mr Carmody "would go to any lengths for a patient. He is totally dedicated and he really cared about his patients."
Mr Carmody denies 26 charges that he obtained by deception more than €80,000 from six terminally ill cancer patients and their relatives. Judge Rory McCabe has already directed on eight of the charges that Mr Carmody be found not guilty in relation to three of the patients concerning payments of more than €40,000.
The three patients who died and with whom the case remains concerned all received PDT treatment.
Sr Healy said that she went back to her consultant surgeon two years after receiving the PDT treatment and he told her "you'll be alive for years to come".
Explaining how she went to Mr Carmody's East Clinic in Killaloe, Sr Healy said that after surgery she was given a 5 per cent chance of survival as she was diagnosed as having grade 3 cancer after part of her breast was removed in 2001.
Sr Healy said that her surgeon recommended that she undergo a course of chemotherapy.
She was reluctant to undergo a programme of chemotherapy and instead opted for PDT after having a consultation with Mr Carmody at his East Clinic.
He had successfully treated her for ME or chronic fatigue in the 1980s and a friend had told her that Mr Carmody "was doing exciting things with cancer".
"I asked could the PDT treatment cure me and he said he could never say it could cure me."
After she was shown slides of breast cancer before and after the PDT treatment by Mr Carmody's former colleague, Dr Bill Porter, Sr Healy said she returned to Mr Carmody. "I said this seems to be a cure and Dr Carmody said 'there is no guarantee of a cure'."
She added: "Dr Carmody said if I said it would cure you, I would end up in court.
"Dr Carmody told me to go away and think about it and if I did take chemotherapy or radiotherapy, he would support me completely in every way that he could."
She underwent no further chemotherapy. During the PDT therapy she could see on a TV monitor the cancer cells being zapped. Sr Healy that the proof was that in the days after her treatment "my body was weeping out the cancer".
Cross-examined by Stephen Coughlan, for the State, Sr Healy said: "The tumours from my breast were oozing out. I took it for granted that this was the cancer. I totally believe that it was the cancer coming out."
She said Mr Carmody "really cared for his patients. He was very impressive and he would listen and support me. I could see that he was dedicated to the medical way of life and was very caring in his approach."
Earlier yesterday, Mr Carmody said that he did not promise a cure to any cancer patient. "There was no question of the word cure. I didn't use that word in the communication with anyone."
The court was told that Mr Carmody and the East Clinic received just under €450,000 from the Photodynamic Therapy Centre Ltd between 2001 and 2003.
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