Silverbridge, Co Armagh <\/a>are both busy working mums of two. Aside from the standard tiredness that comes with being a parent of two young children, neither had been experiencing any symptoms of underlying health issues.<\/p>\nThen in May of this year, when Aisling was engaging in her weekly self-care \u201critual\u201d of moisturising and tanning, she discovered a lump. But, she says, it wasn\u2019t at all what she had expected.<\/p>\n
Speaking to Armagh I, Aisling explained that evening: \u201cI would have done my tan every week. I was a ritual person\u2026 scrub on Wednesday and tan on Thursday. I would have been moisturising and \u2013 not that it would have been a daily check \u2013 but it was probably a month and a half to every two months I would have had a good feel around and focused on what I was doing.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was one of those times I was moisturising and I felt something and then checked the other side but it wasn\u2019t on the other side. Then I got my partner to check and he wasn\u2019t sure and both of us said it wasn\u2019t like a pea-size\u2026 it was bigger, long and flat almost.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought it would have been pea-size or we would have been getting other symptoms but it was just the lump and tiredness but even the doctor said like we both had little children and it was normal to feel tired.\u201d<\/p>\n
Better to be safe than sorry, Aisling did what she would advise anyone to do and contacted her doctor to arrange a check-up. The next day she was booked in and her doctor reassured her that the lump was likely cystic but referred her for a biopsy to be sure.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Silverbridge-sisters-1.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
And while Aisling said she \u201cput it to the back of my mind\u201d, sadly the news she had been dreading came on May 27 when she was informed she had Grade 3c BRCA2+ Breast Cancer.<\/p>\n
Naturally, she had been speaking to her family and friends in the interim, explaining what she had found. Airing on the side of caution, \u00c1ine performed her own self check\u2026 and also discovered a lump.<\/p>\n
Explaining her sister\u2019s discovery, Aisling said: \u201c\u00c1ine said the same, hers wasn\u2019t a pea-size either\u2026 it was flat and circular. Hers was on the top of her breast and mine was right in underneath.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00c1ine\u00a0found her lump just weeks after Aisling, on June 13\u2026 the same day her little girl took her first steps.<\/p>\n
She had only recently returned to work from maternity leave and was really \u201cenjoying life\u201d. For both women, their diagnoses and subsequent treatment has created a whirlwind.<\/p>\n
Being in their 30s, Aisling and \u00c1ine are not stereotypical breast cancer patients. But, both sisters believe that more needs to be said about the cancer in younger people and that it needs to be taken more seriously by doctors when younger people report finding unusual lumps.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen they [younger people] go in, it\u2019s not taken as seriously as someone in their 40s and 50s coming in,\u201d said Aisling. \u201cWhat people don\u2019t realise is that when under 40s are diagnosed it\u2019s typically more aggressive cancer. It\u2019s not something that is even talked about. It\u2019s not the case for everybody but it is more likely to be more aggressive and more likely to be a gene than anything else.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bringing her onto another crucial point of discussion, Aisling explains the incredible value in knowing at least some of your family medical history.<\/p>\n
Said Aisling: \u201cMy Grandmother passed away about 45 years ago so long before we were ever about. Nothing was ever really talked about. She had breast cancer and bone cancer. By the time she was even seen or noticed she was already very unwell. Her primary was breast cancer.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do have the gene, my blood results were took about two and a half months back because I was the only living relative with the gene so it was sent off for gene testing. But it\u2019s education for myself and I have two daughters so obviously that\u2019s the first thing I think of with the gene that it could potentially carry on.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut now I can tell them to check their breasts when they are old enough and they have the opportunity when they turn 18 to get tested for the gene. They recommend that you do the test before they are 25 and I will pray from now until they are that age that they don\u2019t have it but if, unfortunately, they do there will be so many different things offered up to them as preventatives.\u201d<\/p>\n
Urging the public to find out as much as they can, she said: \u201cIf a grandparent passed away with cancer just look into what that cancer was. I don\u2019t mean to go way into the family history but do just have a look into it and find out what was their primary cancer.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Silverbridge-sisters-2.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
In the months following their diagnoses both women have undergone mastectomies and lymph node clearances. Aisling started her chemotherapy in August and Aine followed suit with her treatment commencing at the end of September.<\/p>\n
And while neither would wish the diagnosis on the other, in a way, they are so grateful to have each other to lean on through the process.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have always been very close. We weren\u2019t laughing but in the same sense me and \u00c1ine tend to do everything at the same time. One of our pregnancies was together and we ended up being in hospital at the same time together and our ones kind of laughed, \u2018Trust you two!\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t want it for her. I\u2019d rather do it alone but, if we had to get it, I\u2019d rather do it at the same time. It sounds strange but there is a comfort in that.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat level of comfort, I help her with things and she helps me and asking each other, \u2018Is this normal?\u2019 or \u2018When did you get that?\u2019 Having that reassurance.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have had our chemo apart three weeks apart and it\u2019s a rough 8 to 10 days but then you get 10 days afterwards that you feel a bit more normal so it\u2019s that reassurance I can give her that she will get to have those days and be able to do normal things.\u201d<\/p>\n
The pair \u2013 who are normally intensely private \u2013 have now created an Instagram page under the handle \u2018Silverbridge Sisters\u2019 to document their journey, spread some awareness for breast cancer and the importance of early detection.<\/p>\n
Here, they encourage anyone who needs to talk, vent or even just follow along silently to do so\u2026 and if they help \u201cone person\u201d to self check or \u201cpush for answers\u201d then they say it will all have been worth it.<\/p>\n
Aisling said before she made her first post on the page she was riddled with anxiety and felt almost as though she was \u201cadmitting to the world\u201d that she had breast cancer or \u201cputting a label\u201d on both herself and \u00c1ine.<\/p>\n
However, in the days that have passed she now says she feels like a sense of \u201cpeace\u201d has \u201cwashed over\u201d her with the immense support and sheer volume of messages they have received to say people have been encouraged to check their breasts or even just to send positive words of encouragement to the sisters.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two sisters in their 30s \u2013 each diagnosed with breast cancer just weeks apart \u2013 are using their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":486684,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[1499,1500,1498,105,1501,12,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-486683","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-armagh-city","9":"tag-breaking-news","10":"tag-county-armagh","11":"tag-health","12":"tag-latest-news","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115346399366577443","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486683","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=486683"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486683\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/486684"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=486683"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=486683"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=486683"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Silverbridge-sisters.jpg\")
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