MIRIAM CROSBIE
‘DO NOT IGNORE ANY SIGN, SUBTLE OR NOT, TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE’
Miriam, 44, has always been ‘prudent with health checks’, so when in January 2022, she found a small lump in her left breast, she rang her doctor at the earliest opportunity. Although she hoped it might be a cyst, the mother-of-two, who lives in Dublin with her husband, was devastated to discover that she had cancer. She says:
‘After finding the lump while watching TV, I called the GP’s office on the Monday and he immediately sent a referral to the Breast Health Unit in the Mater Hospital. While waiting for the appointment, the lump started to grow quickly, it was protruding and quite painful. When I researched it, words such as cysts and fibroadenomas kept coming up, so I tried to have a positive attitude. As there was no history of breast cancer in my family, this also gave me false reassurance.
In March 2022, after a consultation with a breast nurse, I was sent for a mammogram, biopsy and ultrasound. The doctor asked if the lump was growing quickly and I confirmed that it was, but I didn’t walk out thinking I had breast cancer. However, when I came back for the results, I felt a little anxious. Although I don’t recall the breast surgeon’s exact words, I remember hearing her say cancer – I cried and said something silly like “but I tried to stay positive”, as if my attitude could have changed the outcome.
My husband works in the hospital and I texted him to come over as soon as possible. When he arrived the surgeon explained the diagnosis, which was triple negative breast cancer, and I would need to start six months of chemotherapy as soon as possible to try to reduce the tumour size. This would be followed by surgery and radiation. After a diagnosis of TNBC, there are no targeted therapies post treatment, so the initial plan is everything.
Afterwards, I called my brother in Canada. We had only lost our dear mother six months previously after a long illness, so this news was truly devastating. We also had to break the awful news to our daughter living abroad and our son, who was just 15. We decided that being truthful from the beginning would help our family to support each other through the uncertainty of it all.
I started chemotherapy within two weeks of my diagnosis but after two sessions, the third was cancelled as my white blood cells were too low. I managed three further sessions, but then was