The fear of cancer returning was one of the biggest hurdles for Mary O’Connor to get through after she had recovered from her breast surgery and treatment.

However, she says she does not regret her decision to stop taking the breast cancer prevention drug Tamoxifen after less than a year.

At just 32 years old, O’Connor found a lump in her breast and immediately went to the hospital for tests.

“There was no history of breast cancer in my family or anything like that. I can still remember ‘no evidence of carcinoma’ that came back from the test,” she says.

“Time passed and I still wasn’t happy because the lump was sore. I kept going back. Eventually I was diagnosed; that was in 1989. It was fairly aggressive type cancer.”

O’Connor, from Co Tipperary, says her children were aged 12 and five when she was diagnosed and it was a frightening time for her.

Possible side effects

She had a mastectomy, her lymph nodes were removed, and she went through chemotherapy and radiotherapy and was put on Tamoxifen to cut the risk of cancer returning. “I dutifully took this medication. I didn’t know about possible side effects. But you’re young, frightened and I would have taken whatever they said to be okay again,” she says.

“I experienced symptoms like sweating, hot flushes and weight gain. But it wasn’t until after I went to a cancer conference in Dublin that I heard people speak about the side effects of Tamoxifen,” she says.

“I made the connection between the two. I kept taking it but then I got very bad heartburn. I’ve always had problems with my digestive system.”

O’Connor says she booked a appointment with her oncologist to explain she was worried she could not take Tamoxifen anymore.

“It was a deal breaker for me, I couldn’t eat. He said if I couldn’t take it, I couldn’t take it. There was no alternative for me,” she says. “I didn’t feel I was making a conscious decision, it was made for me because I felt so unwell. It wasn’t as if it was my fault.”

Moving on

O’Connor says her symptoms cleared up and she “moved forward with life”.

“The fear of it [cancer] returning is the biggest thing. You are making deals with God in your head for things to be okay,” she says. “But after awhile you get back your confidence and your sense of hope. You can’t live your life that way. It was the right action for me.”

Four years ago O’Connor, now 61 years old, had a hysterectomy. She says cancer cells were found but she was told by doctors it was unrelated to her breast cancer.