Question: What is the #2 type of cancer that successfully kills women in the United States?
Answer: Breast Cancer.
Second only to the mortality rate of lung cancer in women, breast cancer can affect any woman. After skin cancer, it is the most commonly diagnosed type of cancer affecting women. It is not yet know why some women get it while others do not, but there are known risk factors to cause breast cancer. While much rarer, men can get it as well. Specifically, the American Cancer Society predicts that approximately 178,000 women and 2000 men in the United States will be diagnosed with breast cancer, every year.
After finding the lump and visiting with a surgeon, even though the lump would not aspirate, the breast surgeon had it in her mind, that since I did not fit a statistic, I was to young to get breast cancer, so I should forget about it and go home - if it bothered me to come back in six months, but not to worry. "You're too young". I did wait six months and the lump doubled. After pushing for a biopsy, she did one and then called to tell me that it was cancer after all. The lump was Stage II - what if I had waited six more months?
The sad truth about this story is that it is not unique. As I lay in my bed, bald, sick from chemo and wondering where life would lead me, I learned that approximately 11,000 American women younger than 40 are diagnosed with breast cancer annually. Of those approximately 1,100 die because they were told "You're too young" or "Come back in six months". I also learned that younger women have more aggressive breast cancers and higher mortality rates.
Over the past three years, I have had an opportunity to meet and come to love many of these young women - some still living and some who have lost their lives needlessly to a preventable death from a disease that they did not know could take their lives.
I thought to myself so many times, what if I had not been taught to do my breast examinations at an early age? What if I had not pushed the doctor for further diagnostics? What if I had not been educated and been my own advocate? Where would I be today? My being alive today, similar to the 10,000 or so women who survive breast cancer, are a result of awareness and early detection. When discovered in time, survival rates are higher. Knowledge and education are key.
In 2006, when Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz introduced The Breast Cancer Education and Awareness Requires Learning Young Act (The EARLY Act) - H.R. 1740, S. 994, I was honored, as a young survivor of breast cancer, and representative of Tigerlily Foundation, to stand by her side, along with Senator Amy Klobuchar and representatives from other breast cancer foundations with young adult populations, to support this legislation.
I thought, "The EARLY Act is just what younger women need. If it wasn't for early detection, many of them wouldn't be alive today." Imagine my surprise when opponents of this bill began to sprout up. Some said it was harmful and others said it would frighten young women. Yet, other healthcare practitioners and breast cancer advocates thought we needed more evidence, to prove that if young women did breast self examinations, it would affect their mortality rates. Others argued that it might cause more young women to go for needless biopsies and this might also impact healthcare costs and these young women's health long term. Still, others said that only a small percentage of younger women get breast cancer, so why make the investment in this legislation.
While there are many types of breast cancer, and a patient can be diagnosed with more than one type, it is divided into two main categories: invasive, or non-invasive. As the name would imply, non-invasive are usually easier to cure. One's odds of beating cancer are increased significantly if discovered early in all cases.
The following two types of cancer are the most common of both categories:
- DCIS, which stands for ductal carcinoma in situ, is a non-invasive type. It is located in the ducts of the breast and remains there without invading the tissue. It is easily detected via mammograms.
- IDC, or invasive ductal carcinoma, is the most common type of invasive breast cancer. It begins in a milk passage/duct, and breaks through the wall of the duct to invade breast tissue. From the tissue, this cancer can metastasize to other parts of the body, often spreading rapidly.
If you are reading this article because you found a lump in your breast, take some comfort in knowing that most lumps in the breast are benign (non-cancerous). Most are fibrocystic cysts, which are just fluid-filled sacs forming scar-like tissue in the breast, feeling like a lump and can be quite common in menstruating women. It may be an abnormal growth but won't spread, and won't kill you. However, women prone to benign growths are at higher risk.
In any case, if you find a lump in your breast, remain calm, but make an appointment with your doctor immediately
Resource Author Francisco R. Higueras
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