Julie Ellison

Northern Ireland barrister Julie Ellison was diagnosed with cancer in May 2024 after taking up a friend’s suggestion of registering for a free mammogram with Action Cancer NI, a charity which provides a free breast screening service for those who can’t otherwise access one due to age.

Invitations to free breast screenings are sent out by Northern Ireland’s public healthcare system to those aged 50 to 70. A similar scheme south of the border covers ages 50 to 69.

Ms Ellison, who is in her early 40s, booked the Action Cancer NI screening online after two people in the space of a week coincidentally told her that she should consider it. “It does make me feel that there was a bit of divine intervention there,” she told Irish Legal News.

It was on the first day of the UK Covid-19 Inquiry’s hearings in Belfast, where Ms Ellison was representing a high-profile client, that a letter arrived from the charity to tell her that the screening had detected something which needed to be investigated further.

Less than a month later, after an ultrasound and a biopsy, Ms Ellison had her diagnosis. Fortunately, her centimetre-sized tumour was of a type and at a stage where she could receive “less invasive treatment”, including with the use of radiotherapy instead of chemotherapy.

But the diagnosis nonetheless upended the wide-ranging civil practice she had built since 2011.

“When I was first diagnosed, one of the first phone calls I had to make was to my opposite number in a hearing I was due to have the following morning in the High Court,” she recalled.

“I had to ring him and tell him what had happened, and also then to ring my own solicitor, to tell them that I wouldn’t be able to do it because the shock was too great.

“Thankfully – with the collegiality of the bar – my colleague explained the situation to the judge the following day and got the case moved. Everybody was very understanding.

“But that’s life at the bar. My husband asked what I was doing worrying about work – I said, well, I can’t worry about myself until I’ve sorted my work out. There’s no-one to ring when you’re self-employed. You just have to do what you need to do.”

She added: “One of the things I learned from this is the importance of insurance. I had a critical illness policy as well as private health insurance and that was a huge relief.”

After taking six months off work for treatment and recovery, Ms Ellison began to rebuild her practice in January this year, a process made easier by supportive senior counsel and solicitors. “I’ve had great support and people generally have been really, really kind,” she said.

Unexpectedly, she also landed herself in another role.

At a party marking the anniversary of her diagnosis, Ms Ellison and her husband raised a whopping £1,700 for Action Cancer NI – many times the roughly £120 which the charity estimates is the cost it pays per free screening it carries out.

When she contacted the charity to share the good news, she was invited to join its newest cohort of ambassadors, responsible for promoting both the charity’s work as well as breast cancer awareness, screening and self-checking.

Meeting the other ambassadors at an event to launch Breast Cancer Awareness Month “was strange in that I was sort of going back, confronting what I’d been through,” Ms Ellison said.

“I was in a space where, over the last number of months – really since treatment finished and certainly since January or February – it hadn’t consumed my every waking moment. Mentally, I had sort of moved on.

“But that was an opportunity to look back, consider what I’d been through and meet other people who had been through something similar, all with a view to giving something back, because I do feel incredibly fortunate.”

The Bar of Northern Ireland has thrown its support behind Ms Ellison’s work, promoting the ‘Breast Friends’ fundraising campaign across its social media pages and to members.

As Breast Cancer Awareness Month comes to a close at the end of this week, Ms Ellison’s message is simple: “Be breast aware and go to screenings. Women need to prioritise their own health, and breast checking and screening is a big part of that.”

• For more information about Action Cancer NI or to donate, visit the charity’s website.