I was shocked to be diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer in my 40s

March is Triple Negative Breast Cancer Awareness month, and Foskin, who is from Waterford, but lives in Kilkenny, says she had not been prioritising her health since her mother had died the previous year.

“I had been prone to cysts from a young age and remember my mother bringing me to get checked out,” she says. “I even had a biopsy a few years ago, on my right breast, and all was fine. But when my mom passed away unexpectedly, it was a big loss for us and an awful time. I was self-employed, so I didn’t get much time to grieve, and a lot was happening, so I dismissed the initial signs.”

Active, a vegetarian, a non-smother and “health-focused”, she assumed it was a cyst. She was referred for a mammogram in January 2024 and then called back the following week. “I remember getting a letter through the door about the appointment and was a bit shocked that I had to go back again to have a number of other tests. 

I suppose you have to trust your gut, at this stage, because if something feels wrong, it probably is.

She brought her then-partner to the appointment, and although they could see “a lump on the screen”, they still thought it was a cyst. However, she was told it was cancer.

“I was so scared,” she says. “And it was an awful shock. I couldn’t believe it. I had a biopsy done and then went to the doctor’s office to get the official diagnosis, which was triple invasive ductal, stage 2b, triple-negative cancer. I also had cancer in my lymph nodes on the left side, so that was really scary. I was so afraid that I was going to die.”

“I’m one of six, and telling my family was awful. No one could believe it, particularly as the cancer was very aggressive.”

‘Awful’ side effects

The following June, Foskin, who is a single parent to 10-year-old Saibh, underwent a bilateral mastectomy with breast reconstruction and had eight sentinel lymph nodes removed. After a summer of recovery, she had 15 sessions of radiotherapy in September, followed by oral chemotherapy in mid-October.

She is doing well, but recovery has been challenging.

“Initially, I was hammered with side effects: It was awful,” she says. “I had numbness in my arms and hands and felt very ill: I couldn’t leave the house. I also had terrible fatigue and shortness of breath.

“The whole thing was just awful. It was a living hell.

“I also had a genetic consultation, and it turned out that I have a faulty CHEK2 gene (a gene that helps to protect against breast cancer). It can increase your chance of breast cancer from 20% to 40%. There’s no history of breast cancer in my family, so I couldn’t believe it.”

It has been 12 months since her “life-changing” diagnosis, and she says it’s “going to take some time to recover and process what has happened”.

Writing poetry has long been her way to process life’s upheavals. “Cancer has been the hardest thing I’ve ever had to deal with, so it made sense for me to express the physical, emotional, and mental trauma of this illness through my words. Friends, family, and my cat have helped carry me through 2024, and while I miss swimming in the sea at Tramore, Co Waterford with my friends, who are a great bunch, I hope to be back to it soon, along with all the other things I love doing.”

During her gruelling ordeal, the contract web designer was cared for by a friend.

She says she wouldn’t have got through without her kindness and the support of others around her, including medical staff and the Solas Support Centre in Waterford.

Financial worries brought additional stress.

“A few months in to my illness, one of the breast nurses in UHW told me about the Marie Keating Comfort fund, so I applied for it, and it was approved,” she says. “I was happy to have any financial help, considering I wasn’t working anymore and am a single parent — so the money was put to good use as the additional costs of a cancer diagnosis are significant, particularly when you can’t work. It’s another stress at an already challenging time.”

She would encourage other women to remain vigilant about their health and seek advice for any concerns.

“I’m naturally positive, and I always say that the person you are dictates how you get through something like this,” she says.

“Right now, I just want to move forward; even though it’s slow, I go for walks, eat well, and make sure to have a laugh.

“Of course, I want for cancer not to come back and will go back to work at some point, but it won’t be this year. Cancer changes everything.”

Younger women affected

Janice Walshe, consultant medical oncologist, says the signs for triple-negative breast cancer are similar to the more common types of breast cancer.

“Symptoms can include a lump or thickening in your breast or armpit, a change in the size, shape or feel of your breast or skin changes in the breast, such as puckering, dimpling, a rash or redness in the skin,” she says. “It can also include fluid leaking from the nipple in a woman who isn’t pregnant or breastfeeding or changes in the position of the nipple.”

The UCD clinical professor encourages women to seek advice if they are concerned, because many treatment pathways are available.

“Go to your GP if you notice anything different or unusual about the look and feel of your breasts,” she advises. “Treatment options for triple-negative breast cancer may [include] chemotherapy with or without immunotherapy before surgery, where a patient may have part of their breast removed or the whole breast. A surgeon may also remove lymph nodes from the armpit area to see if the cancer has spread there. Radiotherapy is often considered after surgery is completed.”

Fact file

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a subtype that accounts for about 12-15% of all breast cancers.

TNBC gets its name because its cells do not have receptors for the hormones oestrogen, progesterone or a protein called Her2.

The mainstay of treatment is chemotherapy, but, recently, immunotherapy has emerged as a significant advance in the management of this aggressive disease subtype.

Around one in eight breast cancers are triple negative. TNBC disproportionately affects younger women, particularly those aged under 40, black women and women with inherited mutations in the BRCA1 gene.

• March is Triple Negative Breast Cancer Awareness month, during which the Marie Keating Foundation is raising awareness about this subtype of breast cancer.
• For more information, visit mariekeating.ie/tnbc2025/