In April 2024, Nollaig Feehan decided to check her breasts, prompted to do so by a friend who is currently going through breast cancer treatment. Nollaig, who is 45 years old and living in Mallow in Cork, had previously had a clear mammogram 20 months before. 

“I remember thinking, ‘I should do a check.’ I thought I was someone who did check but now I realise that I hadn’t been checking regularly.” 

When she found a lump, she was not overly concerned – she’d had lumps checked before, and they had proved not to be anything to be concerned about. But this lump was bigger and so two days later, she made an appointment with her GP. 

The mother-of-one was referred for a mammogram where they did a biopsy on the day. She got the results a week and a half later, where she was told she had triple negative breast cancer, grade 2 with further tests required to determine the staging. At this point, it appeared that the cancer was localised. 

“I was really upset, and I remember thinking, ‘how are they going to treat this?.’ I was just so shocked, and I could barely say the words ‘breast cancer’ when I came home to tell my husband,” she says. “I couldn’t stop crying.”

The following day, she met her medical consultant. “He didn’t have any additional results, but I felt so much better after my one-hour consultation with him. I remember thinking that I was going to sleep that night and not wake up crying,” she says. “He walked me through the treatment plan and told me what would be happening over the next while.” 

Nollaig has been working for a pharmaceutical company for the last 12 years, her work focusing on targeted therapies for blood cancers. “This gives me knowledge about some cancers, but it didn’t prepare me for what it’s like to now be a cancer patient,” she says. 

In the days after her diagnosis, she looked up the kind of research articles that she would usually read in the course of her work. “I found those too depressing,” she says. “It’s all about survival rates and statistics and they don’t always look good. From then on, I promised myself I’d stop reading those, and only read things like cancer and nutrition, for example.”

When she returned to the hospital for further scans, she visited the Irish Cancer Society Daffodil Centre there. “I picked up lots of booklets and I did find them helpful, on things like emotional wellbeing during cancer. I even picked the ones that explained the chemo as well because I just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing anything. I found all these useful, even just helping to explain it in layman’s terms to my family,” she says. “I’ve also checked the Irish Cancer Society website a lot, and I plan on using more of the services.” 

In addition to supports from the Irish Cancer Society and the support of her medical team, Nollaig has found great support through social media. “I came across a Facebook group of women at all different stages of triple negative breast cancer. Rather than reading up on it via Google, you are hearing directly from women who have gone through what you are about to go through. You learn to see that everyone’s experience is different. It’s been really heartening to see women talk of their five-year clear scan and people going on to get back to a normal life, but you also unfortunately hear of people relapsing. This is just the reality of cancer.  

Nollaig is now half-way through her chemotherapy. “I completed the first 12-week round of chemotherapy and I’ve just started the second round. So far, it has been okay but I’m on new drugs now, so things could change. It has been difficult, but when you read other people’s experiences, by comparison it feels like mine has thankfully been a bit more straightforward. I’m still very tired and you need to conserve your energy. We have a three and a half year old and he brings the routine and normality to the house.” 

Nollaig is sharing her story to raise awareness of breast cancer, but also to call for screening to start at an earlier age. “I felt very guilty at the start that I hadn't found this lump earlier. Checking yourself regularly and acting on any changes you do notice is important. But also, I think we need to be better at making screening more widely available. At the moment in Ireland, BreastCheck doesn’t begin until you’re 50 and with the Covid backlog, some women still aren’t being called until they’re 52. We need to be rolling out those screening services to younger women. I would go as low as 40 years of age based on recent research published in the US, but I know there’s a focus at the moment on bringing it down to 45 in the EU. That would be a welcome step in the right direction.”

Nollaig’s advice for anyone who has been diagnosed is to try stay as positive as you can and take it each day at a time. “I remember one of the first days after my diagnosis, trying to find people to follow on Instagram who are going through this and someone had a post saying ‘worrying won’t change the outcome’, and that’s really stuck with me. I’d also strongly advise staying away from Dr. Google, because you will come across articles or information that isn’t relevant to your experience or outdated. I would only recommend reading trusted sources. It’s more helpful to speak to people who have had direct experience of cancer or seeking professional support from places like the Irish Cancer Society Support Line or Daffodil Centre.

This Breast Cancer Awareness Month, we're calling on the Irish public to host a Big Pink Breakfast or make a donation to support vital services and supports for breast cancer patients and their families. For more information, visit: Big Pink Breakfast | Irish Cancer Society

For any cancer-related queries, please get in touch with our Cancer Nurses through the Irish Cancer Society Support Line at freephone 1800 200 700 or by email at supportline@irishcancer.ie.