Q&A
Advocacy in Ireland
An advocate shares the issues breast cancer
patients face in the Emerald Isle
By Alanna Kennedy
ADVOCATE
Six years ago, Christine Murphy-Whyte of Blackrock, Ireland,
was diagnosed with stage II
breast cancer after having
a mammogram in a national
screening program. Today, she is
the chairperson of Europa Donna
Ireland. It’s an affiliate member
of Europa Donna—the European
Breast Cancer Coalition—a group
that seeks to raise awareness of
breast cancer throughout Europe.
Recently, Murphy-Whyte spoke
to CR about the unique issues
that breast cancer patients
face in Ireland. She also shared
her impressions of this year’s
ScientistµSurvivor Program,
an event hosted in April by the
American Association for Cancer
Research to bring advocates and
cancer researchers together to
discuss the latest developments in
cancer research.
place. [And I was treated] at one
of the centers of excellence in the
country for breast cancer; it was
down the road from where I lived.
But it was a very different scene in
other parts of the country.
It was really that overwhelming
feeling of how lucky I was having
got the diagnosis and having got
it early—and that I happened to
be in a part of the country where
that went as successfully as it did
for me.
CR: What issues most concern
Europa Donna Ireland?
CR: What inspired you to become
a patient advocate?
Murphy-Whyte: I was diagnosed
with no history or symptoms of
any kind. I realized pretty quickly
that I was fortunate because I
happened to live in the part of
the country that had this national
population screening, because
there were parts of the country
that didn’t have screening in
Murphy-Whyte: Part of our
mission is [to ensure] that women
of all ages across Ireland will know
what they can expect in terms of
the risk of getting breast cancer,
that they will get accurately
diagnosed, get optimal treatment,
and have the recovery and
support they need. We have been
campaigning for the [national
screening program] to be extended
the whole way round the country.
And in the last couple of years,
[Ireland has] had a number of very
public misdiagnosis errors in relation
to breast cancer that have really
thrown the public spotlight onto
the services for breast cancer and
have highlighted [the need] to get
specialist breast centers in place.
