Today we are thinking of all those ‘living with lobular’ where it means more than the aftermath of chemotherapy, surgery, side effects, trauma and all the mental anguish & stresses that come with all that along the way. Think about those who have made the decision, recovering from or are discussing plans for selective surgeries to lower the risk of their cancer returning. Lobular Breast Cancer means living with the risk that at any time this breast cancer could spread. Lobular Ireland are supporting some of the women in the Group with past, present and future plans to undergo their risk reducing surgeries. These are the choices women must fight for to ensure their lobular breast cancer has a lower chance of returning.
Past : One of our ladies who is 11months post op shares her decision making push for a number of years to have a prophylactic mastectomy to lower the chances of her breast cancer return, which proved after surgery results that she had made the right decision. We are thankful that she has made a good recovery and supportive to other women in the group.
Present : We wish a speedy recovery to another of our ladies who recovers today having undergone surgery to remove her ovaries & tubes. This selective decision was made to improve the chances of her lobular breast cancer not spreading to one of the at risk areas.
Future : Today also, a third lady shared her good news about a forthcoming risk reducing mastectomy plan that she got a welcome date for. We are happy that she got her surgery date and that there are others in the group who can support her.
Why must women always have to fight to lower their risks and improve their chances of a future or just living with less worry of their lobular breast cancer coming back in the near future. Patients are not being offered risk reducing surgery at time of primary diagnosis, though they are being told their lobular breast cancer could spread to the other breast.
Lobular Breast Cancer is not a rare cancer but it does impact more women in Ireland annually than cancer of the ovaries, brain & pancreas. The number of people in Ireland diagnosed with Lobular Breast Cancer every year is over 400, equivalent to the number diagnosed with ovarian cancer, yet lobular doesn’t get the same press time as ovarian, even though it is known to have a risk of returning within 5 years.
Lobular Ireland 