What A Difference A Day Makes: Eavanna Breen on discovering pre-cancerous cells in her breast

Eavanna Breen tells Helen O’Callaghan about discovering she had pre-cancerous cells in her breast, about the impact of this, particularly as her mum had died from breast cancer – and how the whole experience has been a “tap on the shoulder”, reminding her of what’s important in life

Eavanna Breen: "My mother died of breast cancer in 2008 and my aunt too in 1987 — she was only 36. So going through my mind that day was all they had gone through." Picture: Moya Nolan.

I live on Dublin’s northside and in September 2023 I had to travel to the southside to get my car serviced. I hadn’t a clue where I was going and, while I was searching for the garage, I got a phone call.

The hospital wanted me to come in for a second biopsy of my breast. Not too long earlier I’d had a mammogram and they’d seen calcification. I’d never heard of that but the nurse said it was very normal in a woman of my age — I was going through the menopause. She said the majority of the time it’s nothing. So they did a biopsy that day.