What Advanced Breast Cancer Really Looks Like with Helen Forristal & Dr Tonya Leonard #191

#AD - This episode is sponsored by AstraZeneca

Dr Tonya Leonard was a GP when she found a lump she was sure was a cyst. By half past nine that morning, she was being told it was breast cancer and asked to decide by the following week whether she had finished her family. Her twin boys were just 18 months old.

Sixteen years, a second primary cancer and a diagnosis of advanced breast cancer later, Tonya joins Laura alongside Helen Forristal, Director of Nursing Services at the Marie Keating Foundation, for an honest conversation about living with advanced breast cancer.

They discuss metastatic or secondary breast cancer, breast cancer recurrence and the signs and symptoms women should be aware of, alongside treatment, scans, scanxiety, cancer fatigue and the difficulty of planning life beyond the next result.

Helen explains why advanced breast cancer remains largely invisible in Ireland, with no official count of how many women are living with it, and discusses the importance of specialist cancer support. Tonya shares the reality of living life in three-month segments, navigating mental health after diagnosis and learning that palliative care does not only mean end-of-life care.

The conversation is part of Living Loudly, Dying to be Heard, a campaign by AstraZeneca and supported by the Marie Keating Foundation, highlighting the experiences of people living with advanced breast cancer.

🔑 Key Points

Advanced breast cancer means it has spread

The cancer has moved from the breast to another organ; in Tonya's case, to lesions on her lung and under her arm.

Life in three-month segments

With a scan every three months, Tonya finds it hard to plan past the next result, the anxiety Laura calls scanxiety.

Fatigue is not the same as tiredness