It is not normal to be grateful for a delayed hospital appointment, but for Anna Hickey, it was extremely fortunate.
Had her mammogram gone ahead as scheduled, cancer cells would not have been detected.
“My routine over-50 breast scan was delayed due to Covid. So when I finally had it done in August 2023, something showed up and I was called back for another check,” she says.
“I initially thought that it was because I had fainted during the mammogram [due to low blood pressure] and they didn’t get a clear picture, but then, after the second scan, I was told I needed further investigation.”
Hickey, now aged 55, underwent a third mammogram, an ultrasound and a biopsy and was shocked to be diagnosed with ductal carcinoma in situ, an early form of breast cancer.
“This would not have been picked up if I’d had my…