At the end of 2022, 54-year-old Mum-of-four and grandmother-of- five, Suzanne Byrne from Greystones was beginning to go through the menopause “I was still having a slight period every maybe six months, but I began noticing a bit more bleeding on and off. I also noticed post-sex there was more bleeding again.

“I have always been a tired person, so I didn’t take much notice of that symptom. Then things progressed, I was experiencing pain from one side of my pelvis to my other, I felt pressure on my back passage and a bloating feeling in my tummy. None of this was severe, so I put all of this down to being caused by the menopause.

“Eventually I decided to go and speak to my doctor, just to confirm this was all normal. I had a hormonal coil for maybe nine or ten years, so she referred me on to the gynaecological department in the hospital for further checks. I had an ultrasound which came back normal, which baffles me to this day.

“I also had a gynaecological appointment booked with the hospital, the consultant examined me and thought potentially my issues were connected to my bowel. She said while I was there, that she could remove my coil and put in a new one. She then asked would I prefer to go to my own doctor. I normally would always go to my own GP, but on that day, something made me say ‘yes let’s do it here’.

“When she removed the coil, I had a slight bleed. She decided then to take a swab of my womb to be safe.

“A couple of days later I got a phone call to be back in the hospital, I initially thought this was not good news, but I convinced myself I was fine. For the appointment, I decided to leave my husband in the car but when I went to the appointment, there was a cancer nurse sitting in the room with the consultant.

“My consultant told me they had found cancer cells in my womb and they appeared very active. I had to call my husband to come in and join me. I was shocked as I didn’t even feel that sick. At the point, they didn’t know if it had remained in the womb, or if it had spread.”

“I had a CT scan and it showed the cancer was in one of my ovaries, the womb and had spread to the omentum. I was diagnosed with stage 3, nearly stage 4 ovarian cancer. All we were told at that point was that it was treatable. 

“My initial treatment plan was 6 rounds of chemotherapy and surgery. I began with the chemo, which I have had horrendous side effects from, it seemed I tolerated it worse than the others in treatment with me. The first round I actually had an anaphylactic reaction. I was also dealing with heart palpitations, rashes and pains in my chest. 

“Once I got through a few rounds of the chemo, my next CT scan showed my tumours had reduced dramatically, so we were all really delighted.

“In October 2023 I had my surgery. They expected the surgery to take hours, however when they opened me up, so much of the disease had gone from the chemo. I did have my cervix, ovaries, womb, appendix and omentum removed, so it took a number of weeks to recover, as it was such a major operation. 

“As my response to the chemo was so good, they thought initially they might only do 4 rounds of chemo and put me on a maintenance tablet instead. That sounded good to me, but the surgeon recommended at least one more chemotherapy session for best treatment.

“It’s been a difficult road. My husband has had to take lots of time from work to take care of me post chemo and surgery. I am terrified that even though things are going well, there is real fear that it will come back worse again.

“I received some counselling sessions at Greystones Cancer Support Centre, which receives funding from the Irish Cancer Society. I also availed of Reiki sessions, which I have found wonderful.”

On advice she would give to others, Suzanne says “Ovarian cancer can be difficult to catch, so it’s so important to be vigilant of any little changes that take place in your body. Always get yourself checked out and push for answers.”

"The last time I had to go to the emergency department I was so fed up and I wanted to cry. Having cancer is stressful enough, but this makes it even more stressful."

"The service is dreadful for cancer patients. A few weeks ago, I really wasn’t well. We tried to get through to the triage nurse, but we found out that he was off that day. There was no replacement for him, it was ridiculous. Because he wasn’t there, anyone who had problems had to go to the emergency department. 

“I ended up not going to the emergency department. If you go, you’re in a waiting room with everyone else which means you can pick up anything because your immune system is so weak, and you’re left there for hours. You have no priority at all even though you have cancer."

"You’re left waiting for treatments, it’s a disgrace. It’s like a cattle market. You’re told to come in at a particular time and you think you’ll be seen within a couple of hours of that, but my experience lately is that I’m there all day.

“My treatment takes an hour, but before my treatment I have to have bloods done which take an hour to come back. At the maximum, I should be in and out in three hours but I’m always there from 11, waiting around. I’m usually called for treatment about half two or three, which is crazy, and then I don't get home until half five or six.

“We’re all left sitting along a corridor, where there are no open windows, no fresh air, for hours. I feel like standing up and saying, ‘Excuse me, do you think because I have cancer I don’t have a life to live?’. 

“I don’t think the appointments are spread out enough. It’s as if everyone is crammed in on one day a week."