Ipswich breast cancer surgeon Dr Liz O’Riordan who was treated for the disease at West Suffolk Hospital discusses death of Dame Olivia Newton-John

A breast cancer surgeon, who then became a breast cancer patient herself, said she wants to help others going through the same experience know that they are ‘not alone’.

Dr Liz O’Riordan, 47, who lives in West Suffolk, was initially diagnosed with stage three breast cancer in 2015, it then recurred on her chest wall in 2018.

This forced the surgeon, who was treated at West Suffolk Hospital in Bury St Edmunds, to retire as the radiotherapy treatment she had meant her left arm could no longer work properly and she was left unable to operate.

Dr O’Riordan, who is now cancer free, said being forced to retire ‘was really, really hard’ as ‘all she really wanted to do was help people’.

In 2018 she wrote a book called the Complete Guide to Breast Cancer, and has now crowdfunded a memoir due out next year, the second season of her podcast Don’t Ignore the Elephant, is released this autumn.

Describing her memoir, Dr O’Riordan said: “It is a story of me as a female surgeon in a man’s world, learning how to operate, but dealing with sexual harassment, discrimination, bullying and the stresses of being a breast consultant surgeon where you are telling ten women a day they have cancer - and then getting it myself.”

The surgeon, who worked at Ipswich Hospital, shares her experiences with followers on social media as a way of ‘reaching out to patients’ and also doctors, nurses and medical students.

On Twitter she can be found by searching for @Liz_ORiordan and on Instagram she is oriordanliz.

Her aim is to explain what cancer is like and ‘improve the care of cancer patients all over the world’. “I want to help others know they are not alone,” she added.

Following the death of Dame Olivia Newton-John, last week Dr O’Riordan passionately spoke on Twitter, about why she believes the terminology around death from cancer needs to change.

Dr O’Riordan, explained: “Olivia Newton-John didn’t want this, but when everyone says ‘she lost her battle with cancer’ it implies that she didn’t fight hard enough.

“It is out of our control, we die because medical science failed cancer, it is not because we lost the battle.

“If a person dies because they had a heart attack you don’t say, ‘someone lost their battle with a heart attack’.

“If you haven’t had cancer you imagine how hard it is, and sort of think ‘oh my god they lost their battle’ but it implies I’m a loser and I’m not.

“But I think when you become a cancer patient and you realise you’ve become close to dying, or you’ve lost friends through it, you think ‘they fought bloody hard to stay alive’.

“It wasn’t their fault they lost the battle, there was no way they were going to win the battle because they had incurable cancer.”

Dr O’Riordan is currently taking a drug called Anastrozole, to ‘hopefully stop’ the cancer coming back.

She encouraged anyone worried about breast cancer recurrence to visit the Breast Cancer Now website.

Many symptoms of secondary breast cancer are similar to those of other conditions, however depending on where it has recurred they can be more specific.

Local breast cancer recurrence, is when the cancer comes back in the same breast or chest area as the original tumour - this can be curable.

Breast cancer recurrence elsewhere in the body, such as the lungs, bones, brain or other parts of the body is metastatic cancer often referred to stage four breast cancer - this is treatable but not curable.

The surgeon, who said she found exercise ‘empowering’ when she was a cancer patient, added: “We do know that regular exercise, can halve the risk of getting a breast cancer recurrence, it can also reduce the risk of getting breast cancer.”

Dr O’Riordan is an ambassador for the Move Against Cancer, 5K Your Way, which takes place at Nowton Park at 8.45am on the last Saturday of every month.

Cancer patients and their carers are encouraged to take a ‘really slow walk or jog’ around the park and chat to Dr O’Riordan about any questions they might have.