'They are playing with women's lives'

A Mayo woman has spoken about breast density and its impact on breast cancer detection.

Margaret Walsh from Hollymount had her life turned upside down in 2022. With her youngest daughter diagnosed with leukaemia, Margaret found a spot on her breast, which brought her to the doctor.

This was the start of a journey that included several procedures and outcomes where questions remains.

Her mammogram and ultrasound had been clear, which obviously was a source of relief for Margaret. However, two lumpectomies later she was told that she needed a single mastectomy. She opted for a double mastectomy. Four weeks after her surgery, she was informed that a 27mm tumour had been found in the tissue when it was examined which was shaped like a spider’s web. It had not been detected on her mammogram or ultrasound.

She was subsequently diagnosed with stage 2 invasive lobular breast cancer. It was only after her surgery that she learned that she had dense breast tissue. Speaking to the Western People, she says women are being let down by not having mandatory reporting of breast density.

“My consultant came into me and said we found something. I said what do you mean we found something? He said we found a 27mm tumour, and I was just so angry.

“I said how could there be a 27mm tumour, we were meant to be getting ahead of this. He said it was hidden. Like a spider's web. I was upgraded then to stage two lobular cancer. Chemo and radiation wouldn’t work on me, so I am on an inhibitor now.

“It is only at that stage I had discovered from the oncologist that I had dense tissue, I had never heard of dense tissue before, and I was gobsmacked.

“Forty-three per cent of us in Ireland have dense tissue, and BreastCheck don’t report on it and record it, even though it can be seen on a mammogram.

“It is another cervical scandal as far as I am concerned. Woman are being gaslit; they are not told about the density of their tissue. Your dense tissue is white when it shows up on a mammogram, and unfortunately so is breast cancer, so you are looking for a snowball in a snowstorm, that is the best way to describe it.” 

Margaret was one of more than 100 women who gathered outside Leinster House in October to raise awareness of the issue, as part of the group Lobular Ireland.

The group is calling for the mandated standardisation of breast density reporting and recording for women.

While Margaret’s cancer was detected and was able to be treated, she explained the toll it took on her and her family. 

“We were shocked because we were dealing with my young daughter who was having chemotherapy for leukaemia.

“We were trying to keep it hidden for as long as we could. We have four kids, but there was no point telling them anything until we knew more. It was stressful; it is like you are watching a car crash in front of you and there is nothing you can do about it. The truck is coming at us and it is just not stopping. When I found out there was a 27mm tumour there, I was just so angry, I couldn’t figure it out at all.” 

Despite having to come to terms with shocking news and protect her family at the same time, Margaret was all too aware of how lucky she was compared to other women.

“My oncologist said how lucky I was. He said I never get to see woman with invasive lobular cancer at your stage, I was stage two at that stage. He said it is normally stage three, if not stage four, there is very little we can do then.

“He said, ' Another year, and you would have been a statistic’.

“I had mammograms in the past, and there was never anything flagged about breast density or anything. I was told everything was clear.

“Anyone who is told their mammogram is clear, it is incomplete information unless they tell you your breast density. I don’t know if it is funding or what it is, but they are playing with women’s lives as far as I am concerned.

“It is hereditary as well, so I will have to test my three girls in the future. I am lucky I have private health insurance as it stands."

Margaret says mammograms are incomplete without women told of their breast density, and described the stories of other women who spoke in Leinster House.

“It was just one story after another. We have one woman who is stage four. She is fighting hard with three young children, that is not right. She should have been told in 2019 she has dense tissue, but they never told her, they could have been monitoring it. By the time they did find it, it had spread.

“There is plenty of us that have passed away since because we never had the opportunity to fight.”