'If my mum was here she'd be fighting for this': Group demands breast cancer screening changes

The Journal

27-05-2025

A GROUP OF breast cancer survivors, and families who have been impacted by breast cancer, including those who have lost loved ones spoke about the need for changes to breast cancer screening in the Dáil today.
Lobular Ireland, a group that promotes awareness of invasive lobular breast cancer, which can present differently to other types of the disease, is calling for mandatory breast density reporting in mammograms both in the public and private sector.
In other parts of the world including Canada, the US, and Australia women are informed of their breast density, but although campaigners have been calling for the same to be done here since 2018, there has been little political discourse or conversation on the issue in that time.
Breast density is a risk factor for cancer, as research has established that dense breasts have more cells than can potentially become cancerous cells, and dense breast tissue can make it harder for radiologists to see cancer on mammograms.
Both breast tissue and tumours appear as white in mammograms, making it harder to establish a diagnosis in some cases.
Nearly half of women aged over 40 have dense breasts, research suggests.
Martha Lovett Cullen and her mother Marian.
Martha Cullen Lovett's mother, Marian Lovett, got the all clear from a routine BreastCheck mammogram scan in August of 2022.
A year later, she noticed a small lump in her breast and a change in her breast size, which she went to have seen by a GP. It was initially suggested to her that she should wait until her next scheduled mammogram, but she insisted on having a private mammogram.
In October 2023 a mammogram revealed a suspicious shadow. Further testing revealed that Marian had dense breast tissue.
The following month she was diagnosed with breast cancer, with a diagnosis of stage 4 metastatic breast cancer confirmed later.
In August 2024, shortly after her 61st birthday, Marian was admitted to hospital with pneumonia and fluid around her heart. Towards the end of that month her condition rapidly declined.
On 26 August she passed away.
Marian's death was an immense shock for Martha and her whole family – a matter of days before she had been having coffee in the hospital cafe with her mum.
She says that her mother, who was originally from Tralee, was incredibly passionate about social justice and the arts – Marian worked as the Director of Temple Bar Gallery + Studio for ten years, and later ran the Limerick City Gallery of Art.
'More than that, she was just the most warm, selfless person. She raised me and my little brother with so much love. She cared so deeply about social justice and she wasn't afraid to speak out when something was wrong, she followed cases like Vicky Phelan's and Savita Halappanavar's closely and was always calling out injustices for women in Ireland, especially for women,' Martha said.
Now, she is joining Lobular Ireland's call for breast density monitoring in Ireland.
'I think the big thing that stood out to her when she was diagnosed with breast cancer was that she was also told she had dense breasts for the first time, which kind of masked her tumour.
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'Throughout the whole time she was sick, she was really frustrated and confused as to why she wasn't told about it sooner. She did a lot of research into it herself, and she couldn't understand why that information isn't given out here, because it could lead to someone going for further testing, and getting an earlier diagnosis,' Martha said.
It's been a devastating time for Marian's family, but Martha is determined to share their story in order to see change enacted.
'One thing we'll always wonder is if she knew she had dense breasts when she got that all clear mammogram, or when she started getting her breasts checked age 50, would she have been more aware of the risks, could it have made a difference?
'Maybe it could have kept her around, maybe not forever, but maybe it could have given us more time with her,' Martha reflected.
She added that during her life, her mother taught her that 'silence isn't an option'.
'I still carry that with me every day, which is why I'm fighting for this on her behalf,' Martha added.
Campaigner Siobhan Feeney.
Siobhan Feeney is one of the founders of Lobular Ireland who spoke in the Dáil today.
She herself was given the all clear after a routine mammogram in 2015. Just six months later she was diagnosed with stage 3 invasive lobular breast cancer at the age of 55.
'It was a tumour measuring seven centimetres, but I was later told that it was a slow growing form of cancer rather than it being aggressive, so I did wonder how it could be the case that it was missed,' she said.
Siobhan had decided to go for a check up after noticing that her nipple on her right side looked as though it was being pulled in a particular direction. She was offered another mammogram and requested an ultrasound, which eventually led to her diagnosis.
Siobhan ended up having a full right side mastectomy.
During her time receiving chemotherapy and recovering from surgery, after learning that she had dense breast tissue, Siobhan researched the risks associated with dense breast tissue in-depth, and began the campaign to bring in reporting on it here.
Members of Lobular Ireland calling for politicians to act at the Dáil today.
'I'm years at this now, and it's taken too long for us to be having this conversation in the Oireachtas today. In 2021 and 2022 we made submissions to the National Screening Advisory Committee to consider mandatory reporting of breast density.
'Telling a woman with dense breasts her mammogram is clear is incomplete information. There are studies that indicate up to 50% of breast cancers are missed on mammograms of women with dense breasts. Women do not know this because we are not being told. The Government now has it within its powers to make these changes,' Siobhan said.
UCD Professor of Cancer Biology William Gallagher joined Siobhan and the other group members for the presentation today.
Labour Party Senator Nessa Cosgrove invited the group to speak in the Dáil today.
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