Fifty-six-year-old Ann McGowan discovered a lump in her breast at the beginning of May.
Living in Ballyshannon, Co Donegal, the mother and grandmother has yet to see a specialist. She has been told she could be waiting until September.
"I also had a lump four years ago. It was benign that time, so I check myself regularly. So when I found another lump I went to the doctor straight away."
Her GP wrote for an appointment with a consultant in Sligo General Hospital. "And so then I waited, and waited, and waited," she says. Four years ago she was seen, she says, within three weeks. So when she had been waiting four weeks this time, she went back to her GP who again wrote seeking an appointment for Ms McGowan.
"Then after it had been two months he rang the consultant in Sligo and he said I could be waiting another two months."
Other family members have had cancer and she describes herself as "terrified" at the possibility that she could have a malignant lump.
She has four grown children as well as grandchildren. "My own children are fairly bothered about it. I don't tell my grandchildren, but the thought of leaving them, well I just don't go there."
The lump, she says, is the first thing she thinks of every morning. "It's the last thing in my head every night, and again when I wake at two in the morning . . . all I can feel all the time is this lump." She says she doesn't get angry. "I find anger is a useless emotion, but I get so frustrated.
"I know it is a cliche and everyone says it, but in Donegal we are just forgotten. We are the second biggest county in the country after Cork, and the Government is not putting in the services we need. We elect them to look after the people. It's our money."
A spokeswoman for the Health Service Executive, North-Western Area, would not comment on Ms McGowan's case. "With regard to referrals for out-patient appointments to Sligo General Hospital all referrals are reviewed by the consultant and categorised as urgent or routine."
She added: "Patients in the urgent category would be called for an appointment within the week."
