Donna's Story
“My left breast just felt different. There was some thickening in my breast tissue, but no lump. I would’ve always associated a lump with breast cancer, not an indentation or thickening of the breast.”
Donna Ray, 37, from Moyross in Limerick was diagnosed with breast cancer in May 2024 after she noticed some unusual changes in her breast.
“I was getting ready to go to a family party and I was doing a root touch-up between hairdressing appointments,” says Donna. “I was standing in front of the mirror when I was doing it, when I saw what I thought was a bruise on my left breast. But when I looked closer, I saw that it wasn’t a bruise – it was an indentation.”
The following week, Donna went to her GP who referred her to her local Breast Clinic for further tests.
“On the 16th of May, I went to the Breast Clinic. When I went to my appointment, my mam was the only person who knew about it, because I needed to let her know in case I was delayed and needed her to mind my six-year-old daughter, Robyn.
“The Breast Clinic was very busy. I was taken aback by how many different people were there – men, women, old, young, people who looked sick, people who looked well. I was waiting for a couple of hours before I was called in to see one of the doctors.
“The doctor checked my breast, then he examined my armpit and said, ‘Can you excuse me for a minute?’, and left the room. Five minutes later, he came back in with a professor who asked me if I was aware of the lump in my armpit and I said no. They asked if I was with anyone. I said no, and they told me to call someone, so I called my mam.”
Donna then went for a triple assessment consisting of a mammogram, ultrasound and biopsy.
“I had three biopsies taken from three different areas,” says Donna. “I had two tumours in my breast, and one in my armpit. They were very close together, so I wasn’t able to feel any lump, just a hardness and a thickness. I’d always thought that for breast cancer I would feel a pea-sized lump, that’s what I’d always heard. I didn’t know there were other signs and symptoms.”
After her triple assessment, Donna and her mam were brought into a room with a nurse and a doctor who told them they believed that she had cancer. Two weeks later, Donna received the results of her biopsy which confirmed she had cancer.
“I was half expecting to be diagnosed with cancer,” says Donna. “The dent in my breast wasn’t a good sign."
"When I felt my breast, I knew it felt different, so at a certain point I was already convinced I had breast cancer anyway. But at least when I was diagnosed, I finally knew and had confirmation of what was there. I was diagnosed with invasive ductal carcinoma breast cancer.”
In July 2024, Donna underwent a full left-side mastectomy and an auxiliary clearance which had been delayed as she waited for the results of scans related to other health concerns.
“They told me they removed 16 lymph nodes and 14 tested positive for cancer,” says Donna. “It shocked me, I wasn’t expecting it to have spread so much. But they did get clear margins.”
The next step for Donna was chemotherapy, but she was initially told her treatment would be delayed due to staff shortages in University Hospital Limerick.
“I was initially told that there would be a further six-week wait for me to start chemo in UHL because of staff shortages,” says Donna. “I wasn’t expecting that long of a wait, especially for what can be live-saving treatment.
“Even though they got clear margins in my surgery, I needed to do chemotherapy and radiotherapy to mop up anything else that may have gone rogue. I felt very bad for my oncologist, who was extremely apologetic when she told me.”
Ultimately, Donna ended up having a two-week wait to begin chemotherapy instead of the six weeks she was originally expecting. She had eight rounds of chemotherapy followed by 15 rounds of radiotherapy and finished her treatment at the end of February 2025 and received the news that she was cancer free.
“I got through chemo and radiotherapy, and I was fine, but now I’m out the other side of treatment, and I’m finding it hard,” says Donna.
“When you’re diagnosed, you’re on autopilot and you have a goal to get to at the end of it all, so you just have tunnel vision because you’re so focused on getting to the end of treatment. And then you’re just left to your own devices.”
Donna will be on a course of medication for the next two years to minimise a reoccurrence of her cancer. She also has to take oestrogen blockers and injections, which have put her into early menopause, for the next ten years. She is sharing her story to encourage people to regularly check their breasts, and to raise awareness of the signs and symptoms of breast cancer.
“Breast cancer doesn’t only show in a lump,” says Donna. “I didn’t have a lump. I just noticed a dent in my breast and a hardness. This is why it’s so important to be aware of your body and to check your breasts.”
