She didn’t find it with her hands. She saw it in the mirror.
Dr. Liz O'Riordan was 40, a consultant breast surgeon, used to being the one delivering the news. She’d had cysts before. She’d had normal mammograms. She assumed she was fine until she went for an ultrasound, turned her head toward the screen (because she knew how to read it), and watched her life split into a before and after.
Before the biopsy even happened, her mentor (also her consultant) looked at her and asked a question no patient expects to hear that early: Who do you want to treat you?
Within two weeks, Dr. Liz was on chemotherapy. Stage three. Mastectomy. Lymph nodes removed. Radiotherapy. Hormone blockers. Instant menopause. The full protocol she’d guided thousands of patients through, now happening to her body.
And then it came back. Twice.
This episode sits in a rare space: a breast surgeon who became a patient, who became a carer, and who now spends her life translating medicine into language people can actually use, especially when the internet gets loud.
Episode Highlights
- What changes when you already know what the scan means and you can’t unsee it
- The part of breast cancer care Dr. Liz says she was never trained to address: mental health, fear, PTSD, and survivor’s guilt
- What “chemo brain” can look like in real life (and why it can linger)
- The difference between “tired” and cancer fatigue and why people underestimate it
- Why sexual health gets ignored in cancer care, and what patients deserve instead
- Myth-busting: sugar, deodorant/antiperspirants, fasting before chemo, parasite cleanses, and other viral claims patients are being sold
- How doctors can “digitally signpost” patients to trustworthy resources—without adding more appointments
- The hard truth about surgical choices: why bilateral mastectomy doesn’t guarantee cancer won’t come back, and why informed consent matters
About the Guest
Dr. Liz O'Riordan is a UK-based breast surgeon, author, and public educator focused on clear, evidence-based cancer information especially for patients trying to sort truth from viral misinformation. After being diagnosed with stage three breast cancer at 40, she underwent chemotherapy, mastectomy, lymph node surgery, radiotherapy, and hormone therapy. She later had two local recurrences, giving her a view of cancer care that includes clinician, patient, and carer.
She’s written five books, including The Cancer Roadmap (available in the U.S. and Canada), and speaks publicly about the parts of cancer treatment many patients feel forced to carry alone: depression, anxiety, fear after treatment ends, body image changes, and the ripple effects on intimacy and identity.
Pull Quote
“Most patients are drip-fed information. I turned and looked at the screen… and I saw a cancer.”
