My breast cancer diagnosis: Telling my children was the hardest part 

When mum-of-two Leona Daly was diagnosed with breast cancer, she was advised by the hospital to be honest with her children. It was Christmas week which made the conversation all more difficult

Leona Daly who was diagnosed with breast cancer in December 2018. Picture: Moya Nolan

Leona Daly wasn’t too concerned when medics spotted a shadow on her mammogram, not even when they said she’d need a biopsy.

“I’d had a biopsy the year before for a similar shadow,” explains the 51-year-old Clontarf-based mum of two, who’d been having annual mammograms because of various nipple changes detected over the years.

But when Leona got a call from the hospital on a Friday, asking her to come in that afternoon — the biopsy results were back — alarm bells started ringing. “I was in Longford visiting my mum. I said I wouldn’t make it back to Dublin by 2pm, so we put it out to the following Tuesday.

“That weekend was tough. I didn’t say much. I told my husband but otherwise I kept how I was feeling kind of hidden.”

Accompanied by her husband, Peter, a publican, to Beaumont Breast Clinic that Tuesday, Leona was given her diagnosis — invasive ductal breast cancer. “The consultant told me very kindly, very gently, that the tumour was malignant. What I can remember is Peter putting his hand on my hand.”

This was around mid-December 2018 and a lumpectomy was scheduled for January 2019. Telling her children — being honest with them — as she was advised at Beaumont, was one of the hardest aspects of the whole ordeal. It was Christmas week and Tom and Emma were aged 16 and 12.

“I told them very honestly, that it was caught on time, at an early stage and that Mum’s going to need an operation called a lumpectomy.

“Tom was in TY at school. He didn’t take it too badly. Emma, who had just started first year secondary, kept asking ‘please tell me the truth’, ‘are you sure this is the truth?’ I said ‘this is the truth, it’s what I have been told’ and I promised her I would always tell her the truth.”

Leona needed two surgeries, and quite a lot of lymph nodes were removed during the second procedure. She had HER2-positive breast cancer and her treatment plan was chemo every two weeks to incorporate four sessions of AC (combination of two chemotherapy drugs), 12 weeks (once weekly) of Taxol and a year of three-weekly Herceptin. She also had four weeks of radiotherapy and finished her cancer treatment in May 2020.

“My family, my children and friends kept me going. When I was having the AC, I’d have the chemo on a Monday, so that if I wasn’t feeling great, by the weekend I’d be feeling a bit better to be able to do things with the children.”

For about a year after finishing treatment, things went well. And then Leona developed lymphoedema. She also has chronic neutropenia — her neutrophils, a type of white blood cell and an essential part of the immune system — were compromised by chemo. “Between both conditions I’ve had complications. In the past 18 months, I’ve been hospitalised three times for severe cellulitis in my right arm.

“The crux of it all is I did not look after myself sooner. My arm would balloon up and down. I thought it’d go away and then every time I’d feel the infection coming back I’d say why didn’t I deal with it?”

Leona had what she calls “a flash moment” in April when she became very ill and was hospitalised for 10 days. She’s now dedicated to managing the lymphoedema. She has started a treatment programme with a lymphatic drainage therapist, she’s being measured for a bespoke compression sleeve and she’s on antibiotic and antiviral treatment for the next two years to keep infections at bay.

“This is the self-care I should have done in May 2020. But I’d been so ill and I’d worried my family so much that I then didn’t deal with the lymphoedema. I just didn’t want to be sick anymore — I wanted to be done.”

Leona sees it as a “lesson learned” and urges others to nurture themselves post-cancer treatment. “It’s so important to look after yourself post-cancer. I’m an example of that. Mentally and physically, in whatever way benefits you, find something. I take lots of vitamins. I have good energy now. I’m starting to feel well for the first time since it all began.”

• October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and BreastCheck — part of the National Screening Service – is encouraging women to take up their screening invitation when offered. Screening is offered to women aged 50-69 every two years.
• Screening looks for abnormalities that could be cancer in women with no symptoms. This means cancer is often diagnosed at a lower or earlier stage and it can be more easily treated or cured. Visit www2.hse.ie/breast-screening

What we need to know

Donna Spillane, cancer nurse at Irish Cancer Society, outlines what we need to know about breast cancer.

Warning signs:

Change in size or shape of your breast such as one breast becoming larger than the other.

Change in the skin, for example, puckering, ridges or dimpling (like orange peel) or redness.

Change in the direction or shape of your nipple, especially if it sinks into your breast or becomes irregular in shape.

Unusual discharge (liquid) from one or both nipples.

Change in the skin on/around the nipple, for example, a rash or flaky or crusted skin.

Swelling in breast or armpit or around your collarbone.

Lump or thickening in your breast.

Constant pain in one part of your breast or armpit.

Soreness or warmth (inflammatory breast cancer).

Red scaly rash on one nipple, which may itch or burn (Paget’s disease of the breast).

Nine out of 10 breast changes won’t turn out to be breast cancer, but it’s important to visit your GP to check out any symptoms.

What increases risk

Age: It’s more common over age 50, but younger women get breast cancer too — being breast-aware is key.

Family history: Breast cancer and/or ovarian cancer in several close members of your family; breast cancer in a close relative when they were younger than 50.

Hormones: Starting periods before age 12 or having menopause after age 55; prolonged use of hormone replacement therapy (HRT); contraceptive pill causes a small increase in risk, which gradually returns to normal after you stop taking it.

Previous breast disease: Being diagnosed before with breast cancer or atypical ductal hyperplasia (ADH).

Previous treatment: Radiotherapy to your chest area in the past.

Lifestyle: unhealthy lifestyle factors, for example, being overweight, inactivity, drinking alcohol or smoking.

Worth noting: Dr Robert O’Connor, director of research at the Irish Cancer Society, says breast cancer won’t necessarily present as a lump. “Particularly in younger women, under 50, it has a tendency to present in a more unusual way, such as a rash or a lump under the arm. In older women, the discrete breast lump is more common.”