Marie's Story
“I think people should take the support available to them and contact the Irish Cancer Society. From my own perspective, I only realised afterwards how much I needed that support.”
Marie Shannon, 63, from Killarney, Co. Kerry, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2023 after a routine mammogram.
“I was called back to BreastCheck where I had a more detailed mammogram and an ultrasound,” says Marie. “The surgeon said there was a definite tumour in my left breast, and undefined tissue in my right. They did biopsies, and in July I went back to BreastCheck and was diagnosed with bilateral breast cancer.”
Marie, a mother-of-two, said she had no noticeable symptoms leading up to her diagnosis.
“I would’ve had cysts in the past, so I was quite blasé about the call back until they did the biopsies. I didn’t notice anything, really.
"There was a bit of uneven tissue on my right breast, but I put that down to maybe being a cyst. After I was diagnosed, my surgeon said I wouldn’t have felt the tumour on my left breast anyway.”
Shortly after her diagnosis, Marie had lumpectomies, which revealed the severity of her diagnosis, and she later underwent chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
“I had two lumpectomies. The surgeon also removed two lymph glands on my right and one on my left. Then I’d to wait for the results. Six weeks later, I got the results. There was a grade three tumour in my left breast.
"That meant I needed chemotherapy and radiotherapy, which was a shock. But there was no spread to my lymph glands, which was a huge relief.”
Marie and her husband John initially didn’t share her diagnosis with those around her, as their children Alice and Michael were abroad but were due to come home, and they wanted to tell them first.
“For eight weeks, we didn’t tell anyone,” Marie remembers. “We decided we wouldn’t tell a soul until Alice and Michael were home because we didn’t want them to hear it from anyone else. I was still meeting my friends every week, but I missed two weeks because of surgery – I just told them I had a bad shoulder, and that’s why I couldn’t go.
“When Alice and Michael came back, we told them, then we told our friends. I wouldn’t have told many people, but I was facing chemo at that point.”
Her family and friends were all supportive when they received the news, and John was by her side through it all.
After receiving her cancer diagnosis, and before starting chemotherapy, Marie found the Irish Cancer Society’s booklets to be important sources of information and reassurance.
“After I was diagnosed, the nurse in BreastCheck gave me a booklet, ‘Understanding Breast Cancer’. I read that booklet over and over because I wanted all of the information I could get on my diagnosis and what would happen. Then, in turn, when I was starting chemotherapy and radiotherapy, I read those booklets – they were all invaluable. I found the level of detail in them perfect. They answered every question I had.”
Marie also benefited from free Irish Cancer Society-funded counselling in her local cancer support centre, Recovery Haven in Tralee.
"I felt very vulnerable at times. I needed to process what was happening to me, and counselling helped me to do that."
"I also received other Irish Cancer Society booklets on ‘Diet and Cancer’ and ‘Coping with Fatigue’ and again found the information they contained extremely useful."
Marie finished her treatment in February 2024, and her first follow-up mammogram has come back clear since then. She’s sharing her story to encourage people to attend their BreastCheck appointments, and to highlight the importance of early detection.
“As time goes on, I realise how lucky I am that it was caught so early,” says Marie. “I’m so relieved, and so grateful that BreastCheck was set up for exactly what happened to me – early detection of and treatment for a tumour that would’ve wreaked havoc if it hadn’t been caught in time. As a result of BreastCheck, I’m now out the other side of it all.
“Please do not ignore your BreastCheck letters or put them away. As soon as you get the letter, put the appointment in your diary and go to it. The benefit outweighs any discomfort. You want to be there for your family, and you want to enjoy your life – early detection saves lives.”
