Mum, 41, hits out after CUH lab cancer mistake
Early detection is key for the survival of breast cancer.
This was the message from the Irish Cancer Society today after it emerged that 41-year-old Tipperary mother-of-three Rebecca O’Malley was mistakenly given the all-clear after a breast cancer test and had to undergo a mastectomy 14 months later.
Mrs O’Malley was relieved when she was given the all-clear after being initially screened for breast cancer in April 2005.
A Cork University Hospital (CUH) lab indicated that the test samples were benign. The news was warmly received by her husband, Tony, and three children — Katie, aged seven; James, aged six, and Lucy, aged four.
“I was ecstatic and overjoyed. Only another woman who has gone through that wait for a test result will know the feelings involved,” she said.
She felt she had no reason to be concerned when she went to her local GP in April of last year complaining of a bad cough.
Mrs O’Malley was diagnosed with bronchitis and, at this visit, she mentioned she was still suffering from pain in her left breast.
Her doctor ordered further precautionary tests and sent her to Limerick Regional Hospital for another examination.
But this time the test results were sent to London instead of Cork and they came back confirming that Mrs O’Malley had breast cancer.
And there was more bad news — the cancer was not at an early stage and doctors indicated she would most likely have to have her left breast removed. Mrs O’Malley was then further shocked when told that, despite the error in testing, she would have to wait a further four weeks for breast surgery in Limerick.
Husband Tony insisted that no further delay could be tolerated and, less than a week later, his wife went to London where a full mastectomy at the Royal Hospital in Fulham was carried out.
She then had to undergo a gruelling course of chemotherapy and further surgery because follow-up tests indicated traces of cancer in the lymph nodes under her arm.
The Tipperary mum is now determined that no other woman should have to endure the ordeal she has had to endure.
“I am calling for an independent review as to how this could have occurred. We are talking about people’s lives here,” she said.
