My name is Ashling, and I am a 33-year-old mother and wife from Dublin. I have three young boys who are the lights of my life. This year I was diagnosed with HER2 positive breast cancer. I want people to hear my story and think “That could be me” and for this to push them to check their boobs regularly.

On 7th of October 2023 my husband and I were getting ready to attend a friend’s wedding when I noticed a hardening on my left breast. About a week passed and my husband kept nagging me to make a doctor’s appointment. Eventually I did and my GP referred me to my amazing breast Doctor, Mike Allen.

I first met Dr. Allen on the 4th of November. At first, he was not too worried and sent me for an ultrasound. The ultrasound technician was confident that it was just a hardening of the breast tissue and not to worry. Off I went happy that it was nothing and had got a follow up appointment to see Mike on 02/01/24. We really enjoyed Christmas and the thoughts I would be fighting breast cancer in the following months could not have been further from my mind.

I met Mike again on 02/01/24 and after my consultation with him I was sent straight for another ultrasound, a mammogram and biopsy of the hardening, the lymph nodes and calcifications that had shown on the mammogram. On 15/01/2024 I was diagnosed with breast cancer. We discussed my options for surgery and decided that a double mastectomy (due to family history) and Diep Flap reconstruction was the best option for me. Next on my list was to have a sentinel node biopsy to see if the cancer had spread to my lymph nodes. This was a day procedure and my first ever surgery, so I was anxious and found this whole experience terrifying. Luckily everything went well, and I got the great news that my lymph nodes were cancer free.

My next stop was to meet the plastic surgeon for my reconstruction. Dr. Allen recommended Dr. Jamie Martin Smith in Beaumont, so we set up a meeting and he was happy that I was an ideal candidate for the surgery. The surgery was booked for the 1st of March 2024, and I was in the operating theater for over 8 hours. I spent 5 days in hospital but felt good and confident that my cancer journey was ending.

On the 26th of March 2024, I had my follow up pathology appointment with Doctor Allen, and he confirmed my cancer was HER2 Positive, 1 in 5 breast cancers are. He referred me to an oncologist Prof Davis Gallagher who I met a week later.

Today 17th March 2024 I am sitting in the Oncology Ward in the Hermitage starting my 12-week course of Chemo. I never thought Cancer would be part of my story but here I am. I hope my story encourages at least one woman to check her breasts regularly, if so I will feel like something positive has come of this journey.