[00:00:00] Adam Walker: From Susan G. Komen, this is Real Pink, a podcast exploring
[00:00:06] real stories, struggles, and triumphs related to breast cancer. We’re taking the conversation from the doctor’s office to your living room
[00:00:18] Welcome to the Komen Health Equity Revolution series on Real Pink, where patients, advocates, researchers, and community partners come together to talk honestly about what’s standing in the way of breast health equity and what we’re doing to change it. I’m your host, Adam Walker. It’s National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and this conversation is a reminder of why awareness and taking action matters at every life stage, including pregnancy and early motherhood.
[00:00:44] My guest today is Isabel O’Gara. Isabel was diagnosed with breast cancer while pregnant, and instead of having her concerns dismissed, something far too many women experience, her team at Yale New Haven listened and acted fast. Now she’s finishing treatment, preparing for a mastectomy, and speaking about what she’s learned along the way.
[00:01:05] From breastfeeding after diagnosis to advocating for legislation that could help other families, Isabel, welcome to Real Pink.
[00:01:12] Isabel O’Gara: Hi. Thank you for having me. I’m very excited to be here.
[00:01:16] Adam Walker: I’m happy to have you. Let’s start with your story, specifically with your diagnosis. So take us back to your diagnosis.
[00:01:25] What was going through your mind when you’re finding out that you’re dealing with breast cancer while being pregnant?
[00:01:32] Isabel O’Gara: Yeah. I think when I was diagnosed, there was A huge amount of disbelief and denial for a while, but at the same time, everything was moving so quickly, so you kind of just had to accept it and start taking on the information that was being presented to me.
[00:01:53] I mean, I was just… I remember hanging up from the call from the radiologist telling me that my biopsy had come back as cancer and just thinking, “How could my body betray me like this?” I was in my third trimester. I’m supposed to be focused on growing new life inside of me, not a tumor. So much of what I was thinking then as we were starting to discuss what my therapy options were going to be and what type of breast cancer I had, there was so much anxiety questioning if I was doing the right thing with every decision that I was making because starting chemotherapy while pregnant generally in pregnancy, you try to limit your exposure to unstudied medications, supplements, et cetera.
[00:02:38] I was being advised by the best oncologist in the world to infuse my body with radioactive chemotherapy while my son was still in my body. It was just so much information and decisions at one time. I just remember being super overwhelmed and every single day for the first couple of weeks after my diagnosis, breaking down because I just really questioned if I was making the right choice.
[00:03:07] It’s just such a stark transformation in your mindset to go from, “Okay, I’m going to have…” I was 30 weeks pregnant when I was diagnosed. I was like, “Oh, in the next two months our son will arrive. I’m focused on making sure the nursery’s set up, and we have what we need to bring this new life into our home,” and then it shifts to, “Okay, I need to start medications.
[00:03:33] I need to start treatment. What do I need to be able to get through this?” There’s just such a dichotomy when you’re diagnosed pregnant of taking care of yourself while also wanting to take care of your unborn child. But yeah, there’s just so much shock and anxiety around it. I was 30 weeks pregnant and focusing on getting my son to welcome into this world and not preparing to fight for my life at the same time.
[00:04:02] Adam Walker: Yeah. I mean, I kind of… I guess I have to ask, like how was that mental shift for you? G-g- I mean, because, because I think you said it you went from expecting, you’re preparing a nursery, that’s exciting, thi- it’s like almost a, I mean, a 180 probably doesn’t even do that, that, that shift justice, right?
[00:04:23] So what was that like and how did you manage that?
[00:04:28] Isabel O’Gara: Yeah. I mean, even today sometimes I struggle with it. It’s, pregnancy and postpartum period is a time in your life when you are so focused on Being a vessel for another human to be creative and survive as they enter this world, to…
[00:04:50] And even just outside of that period, just as a mom with– I, I– my children are young, so I don’t know how it changes as they get older, but my experience having young children is you are secondary, your needs are secondary to theirs. It’s a really hard position to then look at your young children and say, “No, I need to put myself first.”
[00:05:14] And I still struggle with that now, especially I’m still in chemotherapy. I’m in active treatment. I go once a week. There’s days where t- like today physically has been really hard for me with Neupogen injections I’ve been doing to have my white blood cells high enough to get chemo tomorrow.
[00:05:33] Physically, it’s very hard for me to take care of my kids some days. But the thing that I, even on those really hard days early on when I was just so scared and in the times now when I’m making decisions I just anchor to this motto that I’ve held onto throughout this that the best decision I can make for my children is to keep myself healthy.
[00:06:01] I would do, I’ll do anything in my power today to be able to have a lifetime with my children. And that’s kind of what I try and remind myself on the days when I can tell my toddler emotionally needs me or physically she really wants me to come play with her, but I might just not be able to.
[00:06:22] I just remind myself it’s a temporary state that our family has to navigate to hopefully be able to see my children grow up, and years from now look back on this as a really hard chapter of our life, but know that I did everything possible so that the rest of our life can be as unaffected by this as possible.
[00:06:44] Adam Walker: Yeah. That that’s a great perspective. And I like, I lo- I love how you mentioned putting yourself first is difficult because you’re wired to put them first. But you have to. You have to. It’s critically important, yeah. So, so let’s talk a little bit about your your care team or your medical team.
[00:07:03] So at Yale New Haven you have this care team, and they took you seriously right away. So, so walk us through that and why that response, why the way they responded was so important.
[00:07:16] Isabel O’Gara: Definitely. And I recognize in talking to other breast cancer survivors, patients, that my experience isn’t always common, which is frustrating, and I totally understand that.
[00:07:31] I have just felt so taken care of by my care team throughout all of it. But I was 20-something, like 25 weeks pregnant or whatever, when I noticed a lump in my left breast. And when you’re like second, third trimester pregnant, you feel like you’re going to the OB every week, every other week. I noticed it.
[00:07:52] It was either that week or like early the next week that I had an OB appointment, so I just brought it up to my OB when I saw them just for a regular prenatal check. She felt it. She’s, she… She originally told me, she’s I’m not that concerned by this. It has, like pretty it’s pretty structured.
[00:08:11] It’s well-defined. Typically, that’s not necessarily a tumor indication.” But she was like, “But just to be on the safe side I’m going to order you for imaging to have an ultrasound to check it out.” And if she hadn’t pushed me towards that, I probably wouldn’t have pushed back because I… This was my second, this was my second child.
[00:08:33] I was aware of your body is just changing constantly when you’re pregnant. Maybe it was a milk cyst or there’s, she was explaining to me there’s benign types of milk-associated formations that can form in your breast while you’re pregnant. So I probably would’ve dismissed it as that, but then maybe a week or so later, I went for the ultrasound to get the lump checked.
[00:09:03] And when they were looking at it and then going into my lymph nodes, that was the point where I started to think Oh this may not just be something small and pregnancy-related.” They were de- Going into the lymph nodes wasn’t really even on my radar, and then they were looking at this one lymph node multiple times, taking pictures of it, recommended I come back a couple days later to do a biopsy.
[00:09:30] And that was when I remember I called my mom in the parking lot at the hospital after that and just started crying, and that’s when I was like, “I don’t think that this is something small.” So then they had… And I think the radiologist probably saw that, that’s why they had me come back so quickly. He had moved, he moved stuff around for two days later for me to come back and do a biopsy.
[00:09:53] So then, so the, my ultrasound was Monday. I had the biopsy on Wednesday. They, which was super uncomfortable. I did not realize how painful breast biopsies and lymph node biopsies are. I had that Wednesday, and then Friday morning, the radiologist called me and let me know that the biopsy had come back as cancer.
[00:10:15] At that point, we did not know what type of breast cancer it was, but they had scheduled me to see a surgeon on Monday. And in between then, my kind of, it just must have been kismet that I was going to be in the care of my now oncologist. But my mom reached out to… She, one of our neighbors, I grew up outside of Boston, one of our neighbors when I was a child, her brother was the head, at the time, was the head of Dana-Farber for years, like 20, 30-plus years.
[00:10:52] So she reached out to our old neighbor to reach out to her brother to just have a second opinion or if there were doctors at Yale that he would recommend, et cetera. In that conversation, turns out he, a couple years ago, had left Dana-Farber to be the head of Smilow, the cancer hospital at Yale, and was going to take on my case and my treatment personally.
[00:11:17] And it was just it made me feel very taken care of and just a personal connection to somebody overseeing my care. And maybe that was just my intro into learning the cancer world, survivorship world, patient care team world is quite small. But they, yeah they then made sure throughout my pregnancy that there was constant collaboration of best practice standard of care, even though there’s not really a playbook for pregnancy-associated breast cancer, but it’s just a lot of coordination across MFM and oncology to make the best decision for both me and my unborn son.
[00:12:02] And I really do credit that, and I actually sent, I sent her a MyChart message a couple weeks ago because I Now being so far into my journey and learning so much more about triple negative breast cancer, which is what I was diagnosed with, and understanding how rapidly it can progress, being able to diagnose it so quickly and start treatment so quickly.
[00:12:28] So probably from the time that I noticed the lump, it was like the size of a blueberry, to when I started chemo, was six weeks, and it jumped from the size of a blueberry to the size of a lime, and it was, like, more than doubling almost every single week. The fact that, yeah it was so crazy. And then it was crazy because then as soon as I started chemo, it immediately started shrinking.
[00:12:52] So it was so such a crazy ride of oh my God this tumor’s getting so big, and then I was, like, finally able to, oh, maybe this actually is going to work. But the, one of A lot of triple negative patients are diagnosed at later stages because it advances so quickly. And when I go for my double mastectomy and they do the pathology of the surgical specimen, if my biopsy for my lymph node was negative, if they ultimately confirm in my double mastectomy pathology that there was no spread to my lymph nodes, like, all of the credit of that is to that OB that took me seriously.
[00:13:31] I will forever feel so lucky that we were able to catch it so quickly, and I Will know that the breast cancer was just contained to my breast and it didn’t spread because in sp- in looking at statistics and in speaking to other patients that have had triple-negative breast cancer and pregnancy-associated breast cancer that is a rarity, and it’s very unfortunate that’s a rarity.
[00:13:57] Yeah, I just, I feel so grateful to how quickly and responsibly everyone throughout my care journey has res- has made sure that I had what I needed to be able to get the best care.
[00:14:09] Adam Walker: I mean, it sounds like it was crazy fast. And that’s great. That’s, I mean, it’s great. Yeah. And I’m glad for you for that.
[00:14:16] So, so let’s talk a little bit about about, about breastfeeding for a minute because that obviously that, you know, you’re pregnant at the time. That certainly plays into everything. I understand you breastfed your daughter for about 20 months and hoped to do the same for your son. What did that experience look like once treatment became, you know, came into the picture?
[00:14:35] Isabel O’Gara: Yeah, I think that was probably one of the first questions I asked when I met with Dr. Weiner, my oncologist. I mean, I think a lot of people ask Am I going to lose my hair?” I hon- I was way more distraught at losing the opportunity to breastfeed my son, especially then knowing it was going it was realistically going to be the last time I carried a child as well and be able to breastfeed.
[00:15:01] That was super hard for me. I cried way more about that than losing my hair. When I had my daughter, I was diagnosed with perinatal anxiety, depression, and OCD in my third trimester, and quite frankly, had a very unenjoyable first six to eight months of postpartum, but the one thing about that I loved, it was super natural to me.
[00:15:28] I loved the bond that I had with my daughter in that period I found it to be just very… Made me feel very purposeful in a period where I was really struggling with my mental health. And in my second pregnancy with my son, I really wanted to be able to do that, and in an instant that was just taken away.
[00:15:49] It was just like, oh no, not only do you have cancer and the rest of your pregnancy’s going to look a lot different you’re not going to be able to breastfeed. And y- and then even once I was in the postpartum period, I realized even if I could, like, and I wasn’t on chemo, breastfeed, the demands on your body from being in active treatment would never have let me s- keep up a supply or allow me to really take care of myself.
[00:16:15] And I mean, I was going through really intense chemotherapy for triple negative breast cancer. It just wasn’t… It wouldn’t have been possible looking now that I’m in chemo. But yeah it was a really big layered loss because the relationship and the postpartum… The relationship I wanted with my son and the postpartum experience I envisioned, I lost, and then I was also preparing to start cancer treatment, and there’s unfortunately just no middle ground to be able to do both of those things.
[00:16:45] You really, you get one or the other. There were just multiple times where I broke down about it going through all of these supplies I had in the basement of predominantly breastfeeding supplies, and then there were, like, three bottles in there from when I when we had our daughter as an infant.
[00:17:03] And I started going through that bin and crying because I was just like, “This is all stuff I should be setting up. I should be putting this stuff in this cart I bought for next to my bed for breastfeeding,” and instead I was giving it all away and changing that cart to be, like, a chemo side effects cart, and that was what was going to live by my bedside.
[00:17:21] Adam Walker: Man, that is… And that’s a brutal transition right there. Yeah.
[00:17:28] Wow.
[00:17:32] Sorry just taking a moment there. No, please. That’s a lot. That’s a heavy- Yeah … that’s just a heavy statement. I really feel for you on that.
[00:17:40] Isabel O’Gara: Thanks.
[00:17:43] Adam Walker: Let’s talk about Connie’s Bill for a minute. I understand you’re an advocate for Connie’s Bill.
[00:17:48] So tell us what that legislation is and why it matters to you.
[00:17:54] Isabel O’Gara: Yeah. So the Connie’s Bill is for Connie, who was one of the first women… There’s a program between Bobbie, which is a formula company, and breasties who passed away from breast cancer in 2025, and the bill carries her name because she didn’t get to, I guess, see this program go into fruition, which is to have insurance cover formula or donor milk for women who can’t breastfeed because of a medical diagnosis, chronic conditions, cancers is one of them.
[00:18:25] And I, as someone who has been personally impacted by cancer on their breastfeeding journey, I feel really passionate for it, and I think it is a disservice to our society for women who are already navigating so much medically to not have this support when there’s already legislation that, and insurance practices that give you a breast pump when you are pregnant and with…
[00:18:52] un- and unable to breastfeed. But insurance will still cover a breast pump for you, but what am I going to do with a breast pump? I can’t… I was being given medication at birth to suppress breastfeeding because I wasn’t going to be able to do it. Like, why the, what do I need a breast pump for? Breast pumps are covered by insurance, but not formula or donor milk, and that is what is required to feed your child when you are unable to breastfeed because of a medical condition.
[00:19:15] So that is a policy gap that it has existed for over a dec- decade with no answer. Connie’s Bill aims to fix that, and it’s extremely personal to me because of what I’ve gone through Losing breastfeeding was one of the first losses I experienced in my cancer journey. I- that was taken from me before my hair was, before I sat in an infusion chair.
[00:19:39] That was a result of what I needed to do to save my life. And I hope that eventually Connie’s Bill is passed and this is recognized as a medical need because you don’t have another choice. It’s not that I am not choosing or unsuccessful at breastfeeding. It is recommended by my oncology team to not breastfeed, and it is not safe.
[00:20:08] And even just that decision held a lot of guilt for me because I… There is evidence in studies for the benefits of breastfeeding. It was something I personally really wanted to do, but I… Again this theme that we’re going back to is you’re in this period of life where you, your instinct is to sacrifice yourself to take care of your young children, your newborn, but you are making decisions that are for the benefit of you over your child.
[00:20:41] So that held a lot of guilt for me just alone. And then having to navigate the financial logistical burden of formula feeding or dr- donor milk is extremely cumbersome a- and especially I guess just for me I didn’t formula feed with my daughter, so I… Also, I mean, if you’re in the baby space, the gadgets, the information, the trends.
[00:21:04] My children are three years apart. Apparently everything changed in those three years.
[00:21:09] Adam Walker: Everything changes, yeah.
[00:21:10] Isabel O’Gara: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:21:11] Adam Walker: It’s like
[00:21:11] on a cycle.
[00:21:12] A short, very short cycle.
[00:21:13] Isabel O’Gara: That’s right … yeah, I’m trying to figure out- Yeah … What the w- yeah what gadgets I need what formula people recommend.
[00:21:21] We use Bobbie with my son because I am very passionate about their support for Connie’s Bill and the the grants that they give to previvors and cancer patients and survivors for formula grants. But I mean, the precedent exists in a similar fashion for other covered medical needs. So it’s already established that if cancer destroys a bodily function during treatment, the coverage of an alternative is a medical right.
[00:21:52] So, for example, fertility preservation. That is a covered medical expense in 16 or something states because chemo can affect your ability to conceive naturally. That’s covered by insurance. Why is this not? What is so special about this that we’re not being able to take care of women and children in the same fas- fashion?
[00:22:17] Adam Walker: Yeah. Now you made a comment the, in this last question and I thi- and I think you made it earlier too, and I just- I want to mention something to you about it, if you don’t mind. Sure … and I think the, the comment was you felt guilty that you had to put your needs above your child’s needs.
[00:22:36] And I’m sure this has occurred to you, and I’m sure someone else has said this to you, but I don’t know… I think you put your child’s needs first, too. Y- they need you more than they need anything else.
[00:22:47] Isabel O’Gara: Yeah.
[00:22:48] Adam Walker: Right? And that’s- And so-
[00:22:49] Isabel O’Gara: Yeah.
[00:22:49] Adam Walker: So you did put their needs- I try to remind myself that, yeah
[00:22:53] You put their highest need first, which is you, above their next highest need, which might be breastfeeding or whatever that is, right? And so just- Yeah … for what it’s worth, and I’m sure someone said that to you before, but I think you did a great job of putting their needs first because they need you more than they need anything else, right?
[00:23:10] Isabel O’Gara: So just- Yeah. Thank you for that. I do appreciate that. And, yeah, I did… My oncology team and my MFM team reminded me of that. They were they recognized the lo- like the series of losses I had as a result of having cancer. But at the same time, they were like, “The biggest factor for your children to live healthy, lovely, wonderful lives is to have you there with them, and that’s how we’re going to take care of you and make sure that is true.”
[00:23:42] And yeah to the same point of I c- the motto I live by I can do anything for a lifetime with my children. Trying to remind myself that my presence and that my health is the best thing for them. It is hard to remind yourself of that sometimes. But I thank you for recognizing that.
[00:24:08] That is, And I know you know that … that is an important thing. Yeah. I know you know that. I just… I heard it twice, and I was like, I j- I gotta just say… I just gotta get it off my chest.
[00:24:16] Yeah.
[00:24:17] Adam Walker: So, so, so ple- please forgive me being prescriptive in any way, but I just No, I mean- I mean- … but it’s, I think it’s it’s the mom guilt is real sometimes.
[00:24:25] Isabel O’Gara: And you have to, like-
[00:24:25] Adam Walker: Yeah, but you’re a great mom.
[00:24:26] Isabel O’Gara: So remind yourself that.
[00:24:27] Adam Walker: You’re a great mom.
[00:24:27] Isabel O’Gara: Yeah. Thank you.
[00:24:29] Adam Walker: You’re so obviously a great mom. I mean, ev- everything you say just shows that your priorities, the way you want to bond with your ki- like, all of… You’re obviously a great mom, you know?
[00:24:38] And so, so you’re doing the right things. You di- you did the right things, so.
[00:24:42] Isabel O’Gara: Yeah.
[00:24:43] Adam Walker: Yeah.
[00:24:43] Isabel O’Gara: Thank you.
[00:24:43] Adam Walker: And to all of our listeners, if something feels off in your body during pregnancy, postpartum, or otherwise, you don’t need permission to push for answers. Please advocate for yourself and for what you need.
[00:24:56] This October, Isabel decided to be a part of our Don’t Fail the Girls campaign because breast cancer is personal for her, and she knows how much is at stake. She’s using her voice to help make breast cancer impossible to ignore and to help drive the research, support, and action needed to end it. For more information on breast health and your risk, visit komen.org.
[00:25:17] Our breast care helpline is also available at 1-877-465-6636 or by email at helpline@komen.org to support you through diagnosis, treatment, and beyond. Thank you for listening to part one of this two-part episode of Real Pink with Isabel O’Gara. Tune in next week to hear more of her story
[00:25:43] Thanks for listening to Real Pink, a weekly
[00:25:45] podcast by Susan G. Komen. For more episodes, visit realpink.komen.org, and for more on breast cancer, visit komen.org. Make sure to check out @susangkomen on social media. I’m your host, Adam. You can find me on Twitter @ajwalker or on my blog, adamjwalker.com