Rib pain alone led to diagnosis of 'sneaky' lobular breast cancer in Dublin woman

Tracy Bennett was 48 years old when she felt a pain beneath her left ribs. She went to her doctor in 2015, mentioned the discomfort in her breast, and underwent a mammogram. Nothing showed up. No lumps appeared on the scan. The diagnosis came back as cystitis—a urinary tract infection. She was sent home. Five years passed.

In 2020, Bennett received an invitation to attend a routine BreastCheck screening appointment at a clinic on Eccles Street in Dublin. She accepted. When the radiologists examined her, they found what the mammogram had missed: scattered dots of cancer throughout her left breast and a tumor measuring 13 centimeters across. Bennett, then 53 and a mother from Blanchardstown, was diagnosed with lobular breast cancer—a form of the disease that most women have never heard of, despite it being the second most common type.

Lobular breast cancer accounts for between 10 and 15 percent of all invasive breast cancers in women. It strikes most frequently between ages 45 and 55, though it can develop at any age and can appear in both breasts simultaneously. In men, it represents about one percent of breast cancer cases. The disease has become more common over the past two decades, a shift attributed partly to improved diagnostic techniques and the use of hormone replacement therapy. Across Ireland, more than 3,700 people receive a breast cancer diagnosis each year, and 724 die from the disease.

What makes lobular breast cancer difficult to detect is its growth pattern. Unlike the lumps that characterize other breast cancers, lobular cancer spreads through the breast tissue in thin strands—Bennett described it as resembling the roots of a tree or strings spreading outward. Mammograms alone often fail to catch it. MRI scans are frequently necessary. The problem compounds for the 43 percent of women with dense breast tissue, where cancer becomes even harder to spot. Bennett had no lumps, no rash, no inverted nipple, no visible difference between her breasts. The only signal her body sent was that rib pain, which she had reported five years earlier.

Once diagnosed in February 2020, everything accelerated. Bennett underwent surgery on March 31st, followed by chemotherapy and radiotherapy. She was treated by oncologist Cathy Kelly at the Mater Hospital. The timing placed her diagnosis at the threshold of the Covid-19 pandemic, yet her care moved forward without delay. Now, Bennett has chosen to speak publicly about her experience as part of the Marie Keating Foundation's Breast Cancer Awareness Month campaign, determined to warn other women about what she calls a "sneaky" cancer.

The stakes of her advocacy are substantial. Lobular breast cancer carries a 30 percent chance of recurrence within five years of being declared cancer-free. After that point, the risk rises to 50 percent. Bennett described this reality plainly: "It's a lottery really." She emphasizes that public awareness of this cancer type remains dangerously low, and that women—particularly those with dense breast tissue—need better education about its characteristics and more flexible screening protocols.

Bennett's journey from that first rib pain to diagnosis spanned five years. Without the BreastCheck invitation that arrived unsolicited through her letterbox, her story might have ended very differently. Now, in recovery and reflecting on her treatment, she speaks of trees and seasons—autumn when her illness began to change her life, winter when prospects looked bleak, and spring now, when she describes herself as healthy, happy, and in full bloom. Her cancer journey, she says, is green.