Detective Constable Jason Devlin was driving back to Papakura Police Station with a colleague when he started losing his vision and was overcome with a severe headache.

A year later, the proud Irishman cannot drive, suffers from aphasia (words can elude him) and is recovering from his third brain operation while undergoing treatment for advanced kidney cancer.

Jason had been to his GP a couple of times for constant headaches and lethargy but the driving incident was far worse, wife Diane Murphy-Devlin says. “When this episode happened, we pushed things along [with our doctor] to get him sent to a specialist quicker and got him in for an MRI.”

Jason received the results that weekend. The MRI revealed two tumours in Jason’s brain that they believed metastasised from somewhere else in his body.

Despite the devastating news, Jason and Diane went ahead with a planned weekend away. “I’ll tell you what we did,” says Jason, “we went out and we got pissed out of our faces.”

The following Tuesday, the 53-year-old was sent for a CT to find the source of the cancer. It showed a large tumour in his left kidney.

“They did the biopsy and confirmed that it was clear cell renal cell carcinoma,” says Diane. “Within a few days he was talking to a brain surgeon. He had his first surgery the 21st of July. It was very fast.”

After reasonable success and few side effects, the surgeons operated again exactly a month later. The second brain tumour was deeper in and things did not go as smoothly. Jason suffered a mini-stroke, leaving him with right-sided weakness and visual field loss in his right eye.

“I had no power in my right hand or right leg. I couldn't walk without a limp, I had to be wheeled everywhere. I went mad as well. I was only speaking Gaelic for a few weeks. For a few days, I didn't know my name. I struggled to find my wife’s name. That was really tough.”

Diane says with a lot of physio and plenty of determination, Jason gained much of his strength back. With the tumours gone, the plan was to then remove his kidney. But a follow-up scan found two more brain tumours. One warranted surgery and the other could be dealt with through radiotherapy. So it was back to the operating theatre on October 31.

The surgery was a success and all eyes were on the next two brain scans in early and then late December.

“To do anything about the kidney, nothing could happen in the brain between those two scans,” says Diane.

“We were on tenterhooks. It was such a relief when they came in clear… the two of us were bawling.”

Jason’s oncology team then decided his best chance to fight the kidney cancer was to seek admission to a free immunotherapy Merck drug trial at Auckland Hospital’s Clinical Trial Centre. His treatment began on January 19.

If Jason hadn’t fit the criteria for the Merck trial, Diane says, it would cost them a minimum of $100,000 a year to access the drugs.

Jason has an infusion in hospital every three weeks and daily tablets. So far the regime has “killed” 9mm. “So we're having a response every time,” says Jason. “Unfortunately, to start off, it was 134 millimetres.”

The couple are taking advantage of the next gap in Jason’s treatment at the end of this month to travel to Ireland.

“Ireland has always been his home,” Diane says. “When you're faced with your mortality, it can be quite sobering. You do want to be where your peeps are and where your family are. You realise that you're far from home when something like this happens.”

From Ireland to Aotearoa

Jason and Diane moved to New Zealand in 2009, had their daughter Aisling eight years later and were married in 2019. Jason also has two older sons. Daniel lives in New Zealand and Gavin is in Ireland.

Jason began working for Police as an authorised officer in 2011 and two years later joined the constabulary. He has been a detective since 2020. His length of service meant he had enough leave to cover him from July until January. “Since then, he's been accessing the sick leave bank. That support has just taken so much pressure off us,” says Diane.

Jason marked a huge milestone in March, returning to work for two half-days a week. He says he’d love to go back for longer but admits it tires him out.

“I feel wrecked when I go back. But I'm always good value. Sometimes I do go into the toilets at work and I cry for two or three minutes. But then I will walk out and shake everything off. I will not bring anybody else down around me.”

The family is focused on remaining positive while also being realistic.

“You just have to take every week as it comes,” Diane says. “Obviously, we're hoping for the best and that [the drugs] keep working. But you really don't know.”

Jason has made his intentions clear if the worst were to happen.

“I'm trying to get my name changed to my Irish name [Seasan O'Doibhlín]. If I live, mighty, mighty. But if I'm going to die… I want to get my name back. And if I’m going to die, I’m going to die in Ireland.”

In the meantime, they keep fighting: “We are never going to let it get the better of us,” says Diane.

Jason agrees: “We're going to win.”