Anna Kelly from Termonfeckin, Co Louth got her first breast cancer diagnosis in January 2004. Ten weeks later after being through the trauma of two operations, a lump was found on her other breast and Anna was told she would be having surgery for the third time. "I got caught in a storm," she said.
Her children were aged 19, 17 and 10 at the time - one in college, one in secondary school and one at primary level. Anna had recently started minding children but this was put on hold for almost a year.
"Getting the medical card was a saga in itself," she recalled, referring to the amount of information about the family income which she had to supply. Given that her medication cost €180 a month she was relieved that the card did come through.
Her husband, Gerard, a groundsman at Dundalk race track, took days off when she was having surgery but "I put my foot down when it came to the chemotherapy".
Her husband's employers were very understanding and Anna's sympathies are with self-employed patients or families, especially given what she sees as the difficulty in accessing information about entitlements. "It is like climbing Mount Everest. I know there are women who make decisions about their health based on financial factors.
"Some have a mastectomy rather than go through five weeks of radiotherapy which is very intrusive for families.
"Having a mastectomy is a big decision but you can live with a decision if you make it in the right frame of mind.
"If it is made because of financial restraints it might be harder to live with."
Marese McDonagh