A woman who was diagnosed with breast cancer during pregnancy has called for increased awareness of the impact of the condition on pregnant women after raising nearly £5,000 for charity.
Kate O’Brien was diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer when she was 35 years old and just nine weeks pregnant with her second child.
She was referred to the Royal Marsden hospital, where she underwent surgery while still pregnant. Her daughter Rosa was just 18 months old at the time.
“My diagnosis was devastating. I remember thinking: will my daughter have a mum and can I even have a baby?” she told the Standard. “I shut down as it was so hard to process.”
Ms O’Brien, from Ealing, went on to have successful radiotherapy treatment and her son Felix was born a happy, healthy baby in August 2013.
She paid tribute to the “amazing” work of her surgeon and the nursing team at the Marsden.
“Going to the Marsden changed my life. They really helped to make me feel calmer about the situation and put me in touch with other organisations that I could get support from.”
Breast cancer is reported in 1 in every 3,000 pregnancies, according to Cancer Research UK. Most women are between 32 and 38 years old at diagnosis.
Ms O’Brien said more could be done to raise awareness of the fact that the condition can still affect women during pregnancy.
“A lot of information on breast cancer is for older women so it didn’t feel relevant to me… there needs to be more information for women with breast cancer who are pregnant.”
To mark ten years since her diagnosis on May 14, Ms O’Brien completed the Banham Marsden March by walking 15 miles between the Royal Marsden hospital sites in Chelsea and Sutton. All of the money raised will be donated the Royal Marsden Cancer Charity.
She was joined on the day by her son Felix, 9, Rosa, 11, husband Jez along with the Hakuna Ma-ta-tas! team of family and friends.
