As his battle against often deadly mesothelioma continues, Raymond Finerty’s wish to attend the Masters has been granted by the Dream Foundation in partnership with Genentech and Shivas Irons Society.
Raymond, a Westmeath native, and his son Keith will travel to Georgia on April 14th to watch the last and hopefully most exciting round of golf at Augusta National Golf Club, the Daily News reports.
This past Tuesday afternoon seven members of the Dream Foundation stormed Finerty's quiet Queens home with a golf themed cake that simply read, “Have A Wonderful Trip, Raymond.”
The soft spoken 59-year-old plays golf weekly on his home course with a group called Mac’s Golf Club. Finerty gave a simple yet telling comparison for his upcoming trip: “It’s like going to Mecca.”
Finerty has had to endure three years of this horrible disease, going through three major surgeries and 5 rounds of chemo. Finerty, with support from his family, has been able to continue to live a full life without wallowing in his situation.
“It would be easy to be overwhelmed by self-pity,” he explained to the New York Daily News. “You just have to make a decision to make the best of it. Why spoil it by hanging your head down?”
He says he was very depressed when he first heard the diagnosis but has since made the best of life.
His wife Mary Finerty was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2011 and also had surgery and chemotherapy.
“It’s okay. There are things you have to deal with,” Mary Finerty says.
“He is amazing in every way,” Mary Finerty says. “He’s very driven not to succumb to the disease.”
Raymond believes he got the deadly disease when working in Ireland on brakes lined with asbestos in cars. He has since sued the Ford Motor company.
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