'It’s like smart chemo': New breast cancer treatment a 'game changer'

Avril Tierney is one of many women benefitting from breakthrough personalised treatments for advanced breast cancer which has led to a dramatic increase in survival rates 

Avril Tierney from Portarlington Co Laois says new cancer treatment has been a game changer. Picture: Finbarr O’Rourke

In early 2021, Avril Tierney received the news she had been dreading. At 43, she had been diagnosed with stage four metastatic breast cancer, which had spread to her lungs.

Having first been diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer in 2019, a form of the disease which affects one in every eight breast cancer patients in Ireland, Tierney had already spent two years undergoing intensive chemotherapy and invasive surgery. Now she was confronted with her worst fears.