IOM Breast Care is a breast cancer support group and registered charity, run totally by volunteers who have all had breast cancer themselves. We have been running since 1997.
In 1997, Ann Byrne, a nurse at Noble’s who is now retired and living in Ireland, was doing her Master’s Degree and looking into after care of breast cancer patients on the Island. She approached 20 ladies who had been patients in the last two years and studied their cases from diagnosis to date. I was one of those patients. Her research, at that time, showed a lack in after care service. (Today it is extremely good, thanks in part to Ann who instigated the appointment of a Community Breast Care Nurse) She asked some of the ladies if they would be interested in forming a support group for breast patients and that’s how we started out. Ann still keeps in touch and follows the group's progress with great interest.