Anne chose to have a breast removed rather than face travelling to Dublin for long periods for radiotherapy.
"My husband had died the year before and I was a bit depressed, and the thought of all that travelling on top of everything, I just couldn't face it. I think it would have put me over the edge," she says.
It's now 10 years since Anne (not her real name) had her surgery. "It seemed an alternative - I know it sounds radical now, but I still think I wouldn't have been able for the travelling." She knew other people at the time who were going to Dublin for treatment, getting up at 4am to make a five-hour journey for their appointment. Her children were living abroad at the time.
Other women made the same choice, she says. In her parish she knows at least 15 women who have had mastectomies.
After the operation, she says, "it was horrible, thinking you have to go through the rest of your life like this, you think that everybody is looking at you - it takes quite a while".
She is angry that women are still being forced to make the choice she did. "It's ridiculous in this day and age - we are the forgotten county."
Noelle Duddy from Culdaff in Co Donegal was diagnosed with breast cancer in January and took the advice of having a lumpectomy followed by radiotherapy. She had to wait 14 weeks before she got a radiotherapy appointment. "I was really worried because you begin to think there could be something left after the surgery," she says. She started to regret not having a mastectomy.
She is now attending St Luke's hospital in Dublin for treatment. She flies down from Donegal on Monday and returns on Friday, but it is still difficult being away from her husband and three sons. "Cancer hits hard, it hits shockingly hard. You see your life flashing before you you realise you have to hold all your energy together to hold onto hope. People are frightened and they want to be near family and friends, not 200 miles from home," she says.
When Minister for Health Mary Harney visited St Luke's hospital last week, Noelle presented her with a letter from Donegal Action for Cancer Care requesting a meeting. Ms Harney has now agreed to meet the group.