CINCINNATI — A breast cancer surgeon may not always know what their patient is going through. But for one doctor at the Barrett Cancer Center at UC Health, she knows exactly what her patients are feeling because she is a breast cancer survivor herself. 

What You Need To Know

  • Dr. Elizabeth Shaughnessy has been with UC Health for 23 years

  • The breast cancer surgeon noticed a lump during a breast self-examination

  • The lump ended up being cancer, and Shaughnessy balanced treatment along with her patients

  • Shaughnessy is now recovering well, and says she's at about 70 percent

​​Dr. Elizabeth Shaughnessy has been with UC Health for 23 years. But that fact isn’t the most notable. Shaughnessy is a breast cancer surgeon and is a recent breast cancer survivor herself. Last January, she found a lump during a breast self-exam.

“I encourage my patients to undergo their routine screening mammogram and a self breast exam," Shaughnessy said. "I felt that I had to be doing the same or I’d be a hypocrite.”

So, she quickly got it looked at, in between seeing her own patients. 

“In between patients, I was running over to the breast imaging center 50 feet away, getting a work up, and then coming back," she said.

After finding out it was indeed breast cancer, the surgical director herself became a patient. 

“It was hard for me to adopt to that patient mentality that they should be doing this. This is what they do,” Dr. Shaughnessy said.

While her treatment plan may have slowed her work down a bit, she still wanted to remain committed to her patients who needed her.

“You see a patient and you’ve already consented them for surgery and you’ve got them scheduled, and yet, you just got diagnosed your own breast cancer. I felt I had an obligation to follow through on what I had obliged myself and promised them I would do," she said.

Shaughnessy says her experience has allowed her to better understand some aspects of the cancer journey — especially the constant change in treatment plans and the side effects of treatment.

“Going through this myself and having developed lymphedema as a consequence of my surgery, I certainly know what it’s like," she said. "And I know I am as much of an advocate before, but a little bit more strident now. I make sure that my voice is known.”

Shaughnessy says while she’s not back to 100 percent yet, she plans to continue working for as long as she can.