A young mother has said she spent a whole year waiting for her cancer to be diagnosed, despite having a tumour on her face ‘getting bigger by the day’. 

In September 2019, Donna Marie had just had her second baby and was holding him up to take a selfie with him. 

To her horror, she noticed a lump on her temple. 

Despite this concerning discovery, Donna Marie soon found an appointment with a consultant ws incredibly difficult to book. 

“I presented myself in A&E at one stage because I was in so much pain,” she said. 

“I had severe headaches and I had pain all down the side of my head, down into my neck. 

“I remember meeting a consultant in the A&E department and he was just baffled; he didn’t know what to do, he didn’t know what to say. 

“He came up with this random diagnosis and sent me packing. 

“I just felt that’s not enough.” 

Donna Marie.

A few months afterwards, the world changed when COVID-19 arrived in Ireland, plunging the health service into a crisis as thousands of people fell ill with the deadly virus. 

“We were all stuck at home,” Donna Marie said. 

“I was just watching this cancerous tumour get bigger, literally, by the day on my head. 

“I did what most people probably wouldn’t do; I sent an immense amount of emails to consultants secretaries with photographs and called so many secretaries, just to see if I could get a consultant to look at me. 

“I sent the ultrasound picture, I sent pictures of myself, you could visibly see this tumour sticking outside my head. 

“I just spent months and months and months trying to get myself in with a consultant.” 

Donna Marie.

It was only in September 2019 - 12 months after she discovered a lump - that Donna Marie got a biopsy. 

“It was 22 days later when the consultant called me in and said, ‘I’m very sorry, you have Ewing’s Sarcoma - a very rare and aggressive form of cancer.’

With hindsight, Donna Marie describes it as a “miracle” that the cancer had not spread. 

“Early detection has an incredible impact on saving lives,” she said. 

“I discovered this 12 months previously; I did everything right, I followed all the guidelines, I did everything correct but I had to fight and fight and fight just to get a diagnosis.

“I feel once you’re in the system, you may have a little bit better chance of a treatment but it’s getting into that system that’s absolutely impossible.” 

Donna Marie is now in remission after a “hefty” 12 months of medical treatment, that ranged from chemotherapy to an eight and a half hour surgery.

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Main image: Donna Marie. Picture by: Donna Marie.