‘I genuinely thought my hormones after having a baby had caused some sort of problem, I never thought in a million years it was cancer’

A BRAVE young Ballivor mother who was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer just eight months after giving birth to her son is calling for all mothers to receive a post partum breast check.

31-year-old Angela O'Connell thought it was just hormones adjusting in her body when she began to feel out of sorts a few months after giving birth, however, the mum of two was left devastated when a lump “the size of lemon” turned out to be triple-positive breast cancer.

Triple-positive breast cancer is a type of breast cancer in which the tumour cells have estrogen receptors, progesterone receptors and a larger-than-normal number of HER2 receptors on their surface.

The condition tends to be more aggressive and often occurs in younger people.

Angela who is originally from Dublin began a gruelling treatment plan consisting of six cycles of chemotherapy over 18 weeks almost straight away to kill the deadly cells in her body and will this week undergo a mastectomy.

Despite the life altering diagnosis, Angela maintains a positive outlook on life and is hoping to start a course of high dose vitamin C infusions post surgery to build up her immune system.

“I genuinely thought that my hormones after having a baby had caused some sort of menstrual kind of problem, I never thought in a million years that it was cancer,” said Angela.

“Survival mode just kicked in, I had a fire in my belly straight away like this is not going to kill me, my only thought was getting better for the kids,” she added.

“I really think a free breast check should be offered to every mother post partum. It is not like a mammogram, it is not going to cost any money but it could save a life.

“ I'm not alone in this, from what I have heard there is a lot of women in my situation but it's only when you experience it yourself you hear these stories.

“Because of the size of the tumours, I believe they were there while I was pregnant. Although it is an aggressive form, for those to grow it would take time. As a new mother, often your first priority is not yourself so I really think a scheduled breast check would really make a difference.”

The devoted mum describes the events that led up to her shock diagnosis.

“My son was born in November 2022 so he was six month old when I started to notice that something wasn't right,” said mum to Sienna (5) and Charlie (1).

“I was very tired and I just wasn't feeling myself, my body knew something was up, I just didn't think that's what it was.

“I just thought it was hormonal related after having a baby. Then one day I just happened to be lying on my back and I had never done a breast check in my life but I felt a bit of a heaviness and I happened to check myself and what I felt was something almost like the size of a lemon on one side.

“I checked on the other side and there was nothing there so immediately I thought it was down to breastfeeding even though I had stopped breastfeeding by that stage. I thought to myself if that was anything to worry about it wouldn't be that size, that it had to be dense breast tissue or something along those lines.”

The Ballivor woman made an appointment with her GP and was referred immediately to the Breast Clinic in the Mater Hospital in Dublin as she explains:

“I went to the doctor just to get it checked and she a referral straight away for the breast clinic. I was examined in the breast clinic, and they didn't think it was anything sinister.

“The results came back two weeks later and it was triple positive breast cancer. You'd usually have a hormone positive breast cancer or triple negative breast cancer but this one was progesterone positive so my hormones were feeding it and I also had a growth receptor that was feeding it even more. The lemon shaped lump I was feeling was the accumulation of three tumours.”

The mum of two says the diagnosis was a “complete shock” that left her world in turmoil.

“It was Just complete and utter devastation,” said Angela. “Charlie was eight months old at the time and I was actually due to go back to work the following week,” she added.

“I went up completely blind sighted, I knew there was something wrong, my body kept giving me signals but the signals it was giving me were hormone related and it made sense that the cancer was hormone positive, there was obviously havoc being wreaked with my hormones and my body was trying to tell me in one way or another.”

Angela wants to dispel the myth that a young person would only get breast cancer if it was heredity.

“I had started chemotherapy within three weeks. I was put on an intense course of treatment, six cycles of chemo over eighteen weeks. It was gruelling to say the least.

“Another thing that surprised people was that I don't carry the gene. People think if a woman gets breast cancer this young it has to be genetic. I got my genetics tested and although there is cancer in my family there is no breast cancer. I am also the youngest of nine and none of my siblings have been affected by breast cancer.”

Angela says having her life on the line as changed her outlook on the world and she no longer sweats the small stuff.

“As panicked as I was when I got the news, I was just scared for the kids and how I was going to cope and thoughts of what if I died were swirling in my head.

“Then were was almost a quietness. I had two weeks to see if the cancer had spread and those two weeks I just had pure gratitude for absolutely everything. Gratitude for the sun coming up, gratitude for the birds out the back garden, the cup of coffee in the morning, gratitude for the kids and being able to do little things.

“I remember when I was going through chemo, I would be very sick afterwards for a week, I couldn't get out of bed, I couldn't lift Charlie up it was very difficult. But I had a goal in my head to bring the kids trick or treating and I remember I was crying pushing the buggy because I was so sick.

“The week after when I started to come around before my next treatment, just being able to walk up to the school or to be able to bring the kids to the playground was the best feeling in the world. The little wins were just amazing and I felt so grateful to be able to do those things. It completely changes your life.”

Angela is hoping that applying a holistic approach in conjunction with whatever treatment plan she is prescribed will make all the difference to the her quality of life. A GoFundMe campaign has been started to help cover the costs of Vitamin C infusions.

“I'm suffering very bad with fatigue and my energy is none existent and that's a big thing that's really affecting me so I've done some research and came across high dose vitamin C infusions. I will find out after I have my surgery what other treatments I'm going to need afterwards. They don't think it has spread into the lymph nodes but they will know more when I have the surgery.

“The infusions help build up your immunity, It's all goodness going into your body.

“I'm absolutely blown away, I cannot get over the kindness of people I never met and just the generosity of people who have donated to the page. There is an awful lot more good people in the world than you think.”

For more information search “Help Angela’s fight against cancer” on www.gofundme.com