Kildalkey mum who beat aggressive breast cancer launches local lifeline for survivors
When brave cancer survivor Rachel Mullen from Kildalkey leaned across her bed one night to nudge her husband Paul and stop his snoring, she never imagined that such an ordinary moment would be the start of a life-changing battle. As her hand brushed against her chest, she noticed a lump, one she couldn’t ignore.
At first, Rachel didn’t panic. “I honestly believed I’d be told it was just a cyst and be sent home,” she recalls. But instead of fading from her mind, the discovery set off a chain of appointments and tests that would alter her world forever.
Her GP referred her to the Mater BreastCheck Clinic , and within days, she was sitting across from a doctor who looked her straight in the eye and spoke the words she’ll never forget: “Yes, Rachel, it looks like cancer.”
In that moment, her world collapsed. She was alone at the Mater Hospital when she got the news, numb with shock. “I didn’t think for a second it would be serious,” she says. “I don’t even remember the walk from the hospital. I rang Paul, I rang my mam. I was inconsolable.”
Unable to wait for her mother to collect her, Rachel wandered aimlessly through the streets until she found herself outside Eddie Rockets in Phibsboro. “I just kept thinking, ‘Oh my God, my kids, my family.’ And then I thought of how I’d seen relatives lose their hair. It was one of my biggest fears. My mind went into overdrive. I just kept saying to myself, I don’t want to die. No one will ever love my kids as much as I do.”
The diagnosis was only the beginning. After an agonising two-week wait for her biopsy results, Rachel learned she carried the BRCA2 gene, a mutation that significantly increases the risk of breast and ovarian cancer. “It was like being in the ring with a boxer, getting punched from every direction,” she says. “You don’t know which part of you hurts more, your ribs or your face. That’s what it felt like: blow after blow.”
Her medical team immediately began mapping out a plan. The tumour was two inches, grade three, and triple-negative – one of the most aggressive forms of breast cancer. A bone scan thankfully came back clear, but Rachel had to start chemotherapy without delay.
The treatment was brutal. “I had a bad reaction to the chemo and ended up in hospital for three weeks,” she recalls. Once her medication was adjusted, she managed to keep her hair for 11 weeks before it began to fall out. “I grieved every single day for my hair. It might sound vain, but it’s part of who you are. Losing it felt like losing myself.”
On top of this, she was urged repeatedly to undergo a double mastectomy. Rachel refused. “It was bad enough losing my hair. I didn’t think I could come back from losing my breasts too. I wanted to feel like myself again, so I chose a lumpectomy instead.” The surgery went ahead last September, and for the first time, Rachel heard the words she’d been desperate to believe: she was cancer-free.
By 24th May this year, she had completed chemotherapy and immunotherapy. “I still have the same life,” she says, “but I look at it through a different lens now. I appreciate waking up. I appreciate hugging my kids. I don’t complain about small things anymore because every morning, when I open my eyes, I think: I’m alive.”
Through it all, her family became her anchor, especially her youngest son, Jamie, aged seven. One morning, while Rachel was struggling, Jamie hugged her and repeated a phrase she used to say to him: “Mammy, put your big girl pants on.” It made her laugh, but it also shifted her perspective. “I realised he was right. No point telling my kids to be brave if I couldn’t do the same. That was the day I decided I’d fight this with everything I had.”
Yet even with private health insurance, Rachel was stunned by the financial burden of her illness. “I ended up paying €1,900 for a real hair wig. I got a PRSI grant of €500, and my insurance covered €900, but I still had to pay €500 out of my own pocket. If you don’t have insurance, you’re left to rot in this country , that’s the harsh reality.”
Her experience has made her determined to push for change. She now believes cancer screening should be available to younger people. “We need earlier detection. Cancer doesn’t wait until you’re 50. The sooner it’s found, the better your chances.”
Rachel originally from Dublin also recognised another gap during her treatment: local support. “When you’re sick and exhausted, the last thing you want to do is travel to Dublin for counselling or group meetings,” she says. “Cancer is a lonely, frightening place. Only people who’ve been through it really get it.”
To tackle this, Rachel has launched a cancer support group at Trim Family Resource Centre, with its first meeting scheduled for 19th August . She’s also organising an exercise and health workshop to help survivors regain strength. “There’s no proper aftercare for cancer patients. You’re just left to fend for yourself. This group will give people the chance to talk, to connect, and to realise they’re not alone.”
For Rachel, this mission is deeply personal. “I don’t know where I’d be without my three kids, my husband Paul, my mam and family and friends. They carried me on days I wanted to give up. Not everyone has that. This group will be a lifeline for people who feel like they’re drowning.”
And as for the phrase that carried her through her darkest days? Rachel smiles: “Put on your big girl pants. It’s not just for cancer anymore, it’s for life. If I can pass that strength on to just one other person, then I’ve done my job.”
To contact Rachel email justachat@outlook.ie