Councillor calls for free breast cancer screening to be extended

A LOCAL councillor and breast cancer survivor is calling for the age of free breast cancer screenings to be extended to women from age 40 and up.

At present, BreastCheck, the national breast screening programme, invites women between the ages of 50 and 69 to get a free mammogram every two years.

However, Teresa Costello, a Fianna Fáil councillor for Tallaght Central who was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 36 in August 2013, said “lives could be saved” if free mammograms are provided for women from age 40.

“There are 3,700 women diagnosed with breast cancer each year, and 34 per cent of them fall into the age range of 50 to 69,” she told The Echo.

“Just in my experience, as I run the biggest cancer support group in the country, called Breast Friends, I’ve been contacted by a lot of women aged 40 to 50 who’ve been diagnosed with breast cancer.

“I put up a post in the group asking if any of the members had been diagnosed when they were under 50, and I’ve never received such a response to a post – I was inundated with comments and messages.”

According to statistics from Breast Cancer Ireland, one in nine women will develop breast cancer in the course of their lifetime, and 30 per cent of women with the disease are diagnosed between the ages of 20 to 50 years.

The topic of reducing the age for BreastCheck screening has been raised at Government level by Cllr Costello’s party colleagues, Senator Erin McGreehan and Deputy John Lahart.

Cllr Costello added that she is planning to make a submission to the National Screening Service in the coming weeks, and she has had meetings with the Department of Health about reducing the age for screenings.

A Department of Health spokesperson told The Echo: “In line with commitments in the Programme for Government, BreastCheck is currently implementing an age-extension project that will see all women aged between 50 to 69 years being invited for routine breast screening.

“In relation to consideration of any further age changes, such as reducing the age to people under the age of 50, it is vital we remember that breast screening is a population health screening measure. It is not an individual diagnostic test.

“The balance between the benefits of screening and the potential harms or risks to the population as a whole require careful, evidence-based consideration and balancing.”

For Cllr Costello, her own diagnosis while in her mid-30s came as a surprise, as she was active and healthy and had no family history of cancer – and it was her accidental discovery of a lump in her right breast which meant she was able to seek treatment before the cancer progressed further.

“I was in the shower and I found a lump by accident,” she explained. “I went to my GP and he referred me to St James’ Hospital, and by that stage I had indentation and the tests showed I had three tumours.”

Cllr Costello, who is a Breast Cancer Ireland ambassador, underwent chemotherapy and had a mastectomy to remove her right breast, and had reconstruction surgery and radiation therapy. She is now back to full health.

When asked about mammograms for women in the age range that she was in when she was diagnosed, Cllr Costello said mammograms typically aren’t recommended for women under 40 as their breast tissue is denser and so it’s more difficult to detect if the disease is present.

She said that she believes GPs should carry out a routine breast check on women under 40 when they’re collecting regular prescriptions, such as the contraceptive pill, so that if there are any changes they will quickly be detected and investigated.

For younger women, Cllr Costello is advocating for ‘breast awareness’ to be taught in schools as part of SPHE so girls will know how to check for the signs and symptoms of breast cancer from an early age.

“It’s just about fighting for women’s health,” explained Cllr Costello. “I lose about four or five girls in the Breast Friends group every year, and I’m just trying to make things better.”
To find out more about breast cancer and how to check for the signs and symptoms, visit Breast Cancer Ireland website HERE.