When Dara Madden first discovered a small lump on her breast, she got it checked out and received the all-clear. However five years later she was horrified to find another, much larger, lump in the exact same place
Dara Madden was a 31-year-old first-time mother to ten-week-old, Noah, when she first discovered a small lump on her breast. At the time, she got it checked out and received the all-clear. However five years later Dara was horrified to find another, much larger, lump in the exact same place.
“I’m 39 now, I’ve been married to my husband Tom for ten years, we have two gorgeous boys, Noah, 8, and Louis, 5, but everything changed when I found a lump in August 2023.
Years earlier, when Noah was 10 weeks old, I found a small tic tac sized lump on my breast but all was ok when I had it checked out. I was told it was just benign tissue and it could grow or stay that size, but it was nothing to worry about.
Five years later, I noticed a huge lump on my breast. I’d like to say I found it when I was doing a regular breast check, but I didn’t. You could literally see a lump sticking out of my breast in my reflection in the mirror. It was so obvious. The lump was in the exact same place as the last time so I just presumed it was the original benign lump — but deep down I also knew in my heart something else was going on. I kept thinking, ‘why now after five years would it just balloon?’
Thank god I went and got it checked because it wasn’t the original lump, it was breast cancer and triple positive. It had already spread to five of my 17 lymph nodes and I was diagnosed with stage two, grade three, breast cancer.
Thankfully, my husband had private health insurance through work so I got a referral to the Mater Private and I think my treatment was so fast and efficient because of that.
Dara is an Ambassador for the 4TH ARQ x Breast Cancer Ireland 2026 Collaboration marking Breast Cancer Awareness Month
Straight away I had a double mastectomy with DIEP flap and reconstruction. They removed five lymph nodes and what’s really strange is during my surgery, they found another totally unrelated tumor right beside the big lump, which was also removed. It was a seven hour surgery and very tough. They took tissue and muscle from my own body for the reconstruction so I don’t have implants.
I found the lump in early August and went to the GP for a referral. I had an appointment in the Mater Private two weeks later and although they pretty much told me they believed it was cancer, I got my official diagnosis at the end of August and my surgery was on the 14th of September.
I didn’t realise it at the time, but I now know it’s quite rare to get a double mastectomy and reconstruction in the same surgery. Many women have to spread those into several surgeries. I sometimes feel guilty that I had the benefit of private health insurance. People say private healthcare doesn’t matter when it comes to cancer and they’re right in terms of chemotherapy, but when it comes to surgeries, I think it does make a big difference.
The recovery was very tough, similar to having a c-section. I couldn’t really move or lift anything for weeks, which is hard when you have a two and five-year-old. But through it all, I just wanted every day to remain the same for my boys as Noah had just started junior infants two weeks before my surgery. The mam guilt doesn’t go away no matter what the situation and I wanted to protect them from it as much as possible. My husband was thankfully able to take some time off work and his parents helped out to keep the boys’ lives as normal as possible.
I went on to have TCHP chemotherapy for six months, followed by radiation for 20 sessions. Finally, I had another 12 rounds of T-DM1 chemotherapy.
I am now doing brilliantly and in remission. I’m still on a lot of medication, I’m on Tamoxifen and luckily I haven’t had any bad reactions to that, at first I feared it wasn’t working because I felt fine! But my doctor assures me it affects everyone differently. My ovaries are shut down and I get an injection every three months to keep them dormant because my cancer was hormone positive. I go to the Mater every three months for an infusion for my bones, because of the lack of Estrogen I can develop osteoporosis. Even though I’m not in active treatment, I still feel like I’m in treatment and I’m in menopause now so I’m suffering from hot flashes, which is just the cherry on top of being a woman.
I feel very lucky my lump was visible because I wasn’t one for checking my breasts. In your 30s you can sometimes feel breast checks aren’t for you but it’s not an older woman’s disease anymore, I know women younger than me who have it. My number one message to women, and to men, is to just check themselves. Make it a routine in the shower, know what is normal for you and your body so that you can feel when something is different. If you do feel something, don’t doubt yourself or delay, just get it checked. No doctor will make you feel silly for having concerns.
I now look at life differently and I really want to help so many young women. I’m involved in setting up a cancer support group in Meath along with other cancer survivors as there is currently none in our area. The closest ones to us are in Drogheda or Dublin but when you’re going through chemotherapy, the last thing you want to do is travel and sit in traffic. We’re speaking to the Oireachtas about it soon so we’re hoping to secure funding for a permanent space”.
Dara is an Ambassadors for the 4TH ARQ x Breast Cancer Ireland 2026 Collaboration marking Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The collaboration sees the launch of two limited-edition Maddox Fleece Half-Zips under Rosie Connolly Quinn’s successful 4TH ARQ brand, with all profits from the sale of the new Half-Zips in both Fuchsia and Bubblegum Pink going towards the development of an additional Ultrasound Room at Beaumont Breast Centre Dublin, helping to significantly reduce ultrasound waiting lists. Available to purchase at €40 from www.4THARQ.com