Random health check may have saved my life

Anne O’Carroll decided to have a scan because it was good value. Had she delayed it, the triple-negative breast cancer could have spread to other organs

Fri, 13 Mar, 2026 - 02:00

Arlene Harris

ANNE O’CARROLL underwent a health check purely because it was good value at the time. This random act may have saved her life.

Having made the decision to reduce her health insurance cover, she discovered that she could get a full check-up for a very reasonable price while still on her existing policy, so she decided to avail of the testing.

“At the end of December 2012, I decided to have a €50 full body check-up, even though I felt as fit as a trout and had no concerns whatsoever,” she says. “I was chatting to the radiographer doing the breast scan, when suddenly she went quiet, took my hand and asked me to feel what she had just felt – a lump the size of a big grape under the right nipple.

“I was so shocked. The discovery was completely unexpected and, after getting a referral for further tests and a biopsy, I staggered out of the room in complete shock.”

Following further tests, the Cork woman, who was 46 at the time, was told she had triple-negative breast cancer, which would require immediate treatment as it was a fast-acting cancer that would spread to the organs if not treated quickly.

“Two weeks after my first appointment, I started chemotherapy, which was absolutely brutal,” she says. “It was the start of 2013, and my oncologist told me to write the whole year off and not put a single thing in my diary. She said I should dedicate the time to my medical care and not even plan fun stuff, as I may need to cancel at short notice. I was reluctant to do it, but she was right, as it was very tough.”

The treatment included chemotherapy, a lumpectomy, and radiotherapy. “It was very intense — I could hardly walk, couldn’t drive and could barely string a sentence together. It knocked me for six.

“It also put me into a chemical menopause, so I also had the most horrific night sweats and all the other stuff that goes with menopause, but without any lead-up to it.”

TNBC awareness

This month, the Marie Keating Foundation is raising awareness for triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) to encourage people to seek advice if they have any concerns whatsoever.

“Around one in eight breast cancers are triple negative in Ireland and TNBC disproportionately affects younger women, particularly those aged under 40, black women, and women with inherited mutations in the BRCA1 gene,” says consultant medical oncologist, Prof Janice Walshe, from St Vincent’s University Hospital, Dublin.

“TNBC can have the same signs and symptoms as other common types of breast cancer, which include a lump or thickening in your breast or armpit, a change in size, shape or feel of your breast, skin changes such as puckering, dimpling, a rash or redness, fluid leaking from the nipple in a woman who isn’t pregnant or breastfeeding and changes in the position of the nipple. So see your GP if you notice anything different or unusual.”

O’Carroll, 59, who works as a legal trainer, says that while she is doing well today, it was a long, difficult journey. She urges people to seek advice if anything seems out of the ordinary.

“I didn’t think I had any symptoms at the time other than feeling tired, but I had noticed that I was bulging a little bit out of the right side of my bra, so one cup was fuller than the other — that was really the only thing.

It just shows that you should seek advice if anything seems a bit different.

“If I had left [my scan] longer, my doctor said it would have been a completely different outcome as it could have spread to the brain, lungs or liver — so it was sheer luck that I found out when I did.”

More than 3,700 women are diagnosed with breast cancer in Ireland each year, and the mother of one, who lives on the Beara Peninsula, says anyone who has been diagnosed with this form of cancer should put their time and energy into getting better and try to take one day at a time.to take one day at a time.

“Don’t plan anything as it’s very hard to estimate how you will feel, instead take pleasures as you find them. If it’s a beautiful sunny day and you feel up to doing something, then make the decision on the day. But if you don’t feel like it, then it’s OK to spend the day in bed, take a long bath, or curl up in front of your favourite movie. Just give in to your feelings, learn how to treat yourself and don’t feel guilty.

“Also, people will be worried about you, but you may not be up to talking to everyone, so send a message or an email to everyone and tell them that you’d be delighted to receive messages, but may not be able to respond, so they shouldn’t worry.

“Most of all, just look after yourself and let the experts help you to get through this.

“My recovery was long and gradual but thankfully I am here today and doing well – I’m enjoying being in good health, taking care of myself, eating properly and being positive.”

Immunotherapy

Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) gets its name from “the fact that its cells do not have receptors for the hormones oestrogen, progesterone or a protein called Her2,” says Walshe.

“The mainstay of treatment is chemotherapy, but recently immunotherapy has emerged as a significant advance in the management of this aggressive disease subtype.

“Treatment may often recommend the initiation of chemotherapy with or without immunotherapy before surgery, where a patient may have part, or all of their breast removed. A surgeon may also remove lymph nodes from the armpit area to see if the cancer has spread there. Radiotherapy is often considered after surgery is completed.”