Timeline to a desperate act
SEPTEMBER 2016 – A colon screening kit is delivered to Jack Liston’s house. Later, cancerous tumours are revealed in a biopsy, after a colonoscopy is carried out.
NOVEMBER 2016 – Jack undergoes CT scans which reveal the cancer is spreading to his liver.
It is at this time, according to the family’s solicitor, Turlough Herbert, that Jack’s condition is identified as a ‘significant risk’.
Later in the month, a surgeon in the Mater Public Hospital in Dublin tells Jack his cancer is operable, but an MRI is required for the surgery.
DECEMBER 2016 – Jack and his partner try multiple times to get an MRI scan for him in his nearest hospital, University Hospital Limerick.
JANUARY 9, 2017 – Jack fakes chest pains to get an MRI in Dublin.
JANUARY 10 – Jack receives an MRI scan in Dublin but following the procedure, his surgeon tells him that the cancer is no longer operable and has spread to his liver and stomach.
JANUARY 15 – Jack undergoes a stoma procedure so that he can use a colostomy bag.
JANUARY 17 – Following the procedure, Jack is discharged from the hospital. It is also the day that UHL had booked Jack in for an MRI.
JANUARY 18 – At 1.50pm, Jack sends a text to his partner Mary Manton saying ‘I love you xxx’.
JANUARY 18 – Jack is scheduled for an appointment at 2pm to change his colostomy bag.
JANUARY 18 – At 2.35pm, Gardaí are called to reports of a sudden death at the chapel in UHL where they find Jack and a small handgun.