Co Armagh sisters in their 30s diagnosed with breast cancer just weeks apart

“We just both put the exhaustion down to having two small kids and working full time”

Two Co Armagh sisters diagnosed with breast cancer just weeks apart are urging others to check their breasts.

32 year-old Aisling Muckian, and Áine Mallie (34), are sharing their story to raise awareness.

Aisling was diagnosed on May 27, 2025 with grade 3 BRCA2+ breast cancer. Áine received the same diagnosis on July 26, 2025.

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Both mothers-of-two, the Silverbridge women have had a single mastectomy, reconstruction and lymph node clearance, and have started chemotherapy.

Speaking to Belfast Live on symptoms ahead of her diagnosis, Aisling said: “I basically was feeling absolutely exhausted. It was a different kind of exhaustion, almost like early pregnancy exhaustion, where it just knocks you, you nearly need to have a nap in the middle of the day.

“I just put it down to – I have two small kids, it’s after Christmas, it’s a lot. I started PT classes because I though ‘I need to be exercising more’. I maybe focused more on my diet and everything and nothing was changing. In the back of my head, I was thinking, ‘I must go get bloods done, I must be low on something’.

“I signed up to all the different vitamins… nothing was changing. I was thinking of getting a blood test done to see what I was low on.”

The Silverbridge mum then found a lump in April and emailed her doctor straight away.

She said: “I emailed my GP that evening because I found it just when I got out of the shower, and she phoned me the next morning and took me at 10.00am. She had a look and she didn’t really think much of it, but just on the off chance, [she referred me] on.”

Aisling further explained: “My grandmother passed away about 45 years ago from cancer. We weren’t told about any kind of gene. We were told she had bone cancer and breast cancer, but what was important for us to know was that breast cancer was her primary, and it progressed to her bones.

“I got my appointment for the 27th of May. I had my original consultation, they did the ultrasound and that’s sort of when I knew things were getting maybe a bit sketchy. They were just going back over, and back over, and under my arm then, and then they brought in another consultant and they decided to do biopsies.

“Then they sent me in for a mammogram. Then they brought me in and they told me that they were 99% sure it’s breast cancer.

“That was the 27th of May and then on the 27th of June I had my single mastectomy and reconstruction, and lymph node clearance as well. The reason they didn’t do a full mastectomy at that time was because we were waiting for gene test results. They weren’t going to do a full mastectomy unless we had the gene. We’ve obviously come back with the BRCA2 gene now, both of us.”

Aisling also told of her sister Áine’s diagnosis just weeks after her own.

She said: “Áine found her lump on the 13th of June. Almost identical to me – she felt exhausted the last few months, but again, both of us have two small children. We just both put the exhaustion down to having two small kids and working full time.

“She saw her GP straight away, was referred immediately because obviously the GP knew what was going on with myself. She was diagnosed on the 26th of July.

“She had her surgery on the 26th of August. Exactly the same surgery, mastectomy and lymph node clearance.

“She started chemo on the 30th of September. I started chemo on the 12th of August. Essentially we have the exact same treatment as well.”

The Co Armagh sisters have now created a TikTok and an Instagram account called Silverbridge Sisters to raise awareness and share their story.

Aisling said: “The amount of people that have messaged and said, ‘We’ve just checked ourselves for the first time last night’, and they’re in their early 30s. As shocking as that is, that’s the norm.

“t’s actually just shocking. Two sisters from just a small village in Armagh, being diagnosed the exact same year is just shocking. Me being 31, and being diagnosed is shocking enough without having my sister added into that as well.”

“We want to spread awareness because my friends and people we’ve met… twenties up to say mid-forties, were saying to us that they either never checked or randomly checked, but they couldn’t really say when.

“Our lumps weren’t, you know, they say it’s a little pea size. Mine wasn’t, it was long and sort of flat, it was a strange. We’d no other symptoms like pain or discharge or anything like that.

“It was purely just sort of exhaustion, a lot of people just put it down to their day to day lives and so that was the main reason we decided to do the page.”

Aisling explained how great their family have been at supporting them both during such an incredibly tough time.

She said: “My mum and dad just don’t really know what to be doing or thinking. We’ve quite a big family, there’s four girls and two boys in the house, and they are just picking up the children whenever we need, running around for us, we’re very, very lucky that we do have a big family.

“Our GP was incredible and the breast care nurses and consultants were incredible.”

You can follow Silverbridge Sisters on Instagram and TikTok as Aisling and Áine raise breast cancer awareness.

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