This article reports that cases of advanced breast cancer in women younger than 40 are increasing slightly. The article mentions that it's still rare--a one in 173 chance--to get the disease younger than 40. It also states that women younger than 40 don't get screened for the disease. And it states that bc in young women grows fast.
Yet, everyone interviewed is overlooking these three points as possible reasons why this is happening.
Namely, no one expects it to happen to them,
no one's looking for it
and it grows like gangbusters.
A perfect storm.
Look at the one woman's experience. She found her breast cancer when it had spread to her lungs, which shocked her.
Of course it did. Many are the times I've wondered how many months, or days, I missed a stage IV diagnosis by.
It was close, I am sure.
I'm not surprised many other young women aren't so lucky, because luck has everything to do with it since we aren't taking any further precautions.
Don't be alarmed, the doctor in the article says.
I'm not so sure about that advice.
2 comments:
Oh boy, you're giving me shivers. I think the same thing as well, occasionally. Then thank goodness I was taken seriously on my first visit with the lump. Not all young women get treatment so quickly (a big problem in itself). ~Catherine
Yes, so much of whether cancer is caught early is luck. And you are right: so many younger women are falling through the cracks because people still think they are too young to be monitored for breast cancer. If I didn't catch my own tumor myself, I know I would've been a bad statistic....my doctors thought I was too young for the disease.
Post a Comment