It’s not the body I had, but it’s alive and that’s good

MORNING Ireland presenter Áine Lawlor was low-key last October when she told listeners she was “taking a break for medical treatment”. The 50-year-old didn’t say she had breast cancer.

Each year in Ireland, 2,500 women are diagnosed with the disease. Lawlor was diagnosed this time last year. “I’d noticed a few niggly things that summer, but what confused me was there was no discernible lump. Anytime I felt nervous, I’d look for a lump and I didn’t find one. There was a bit of skin puckering, but you’re getting a bit older and droopier.”

Breast cancer killed her mother at 47, so Lawlor was alert. Feeling “a bit silly”, she went to her GP, who referred her to the breast clinic in St Vincent’s Hospital. “My appointment was two and a half weeks later, so it’s not like I was rushed in,” she says.