Breast cancer is reported even in younger women

Wednesday 20th October 2021 07:58 EDT
 

Kelsey Summers was getting dressed when she felt a lump in her breast. She was 26, an age when most women wouldn’t think about the possibility of breast cancer, but her mother was diagnosed with the disease at 28, so Summers had already been eager to get a mammogram before that day.

“I totally did not take it seriously at the beginning because I had had lumps that came and went with my menstrual cycle. So I was just thinking that's what this is - it's nothing,” Summers, who lives in Atlanta, said.

“It was something I could really feel, but it was not painful whatsoever. … I think in your 20s you have this kind of arrogance that nothing bad could happen to you.” She mentioned the lump to her brother and a friend, who both encouraged her to get it checked out. When the friend’s mother found out, she immediately booked her an appointment with a doctor. A biopsy revealed stage 1 HER2-positive breast cancer.

It was October 2020 and with the availability of Covid-19 vaccines still months away, Summers was facing medical treatment in the midst of a pandemic. She’d have to undergo chemotherapy, surgery and more regular intravenous infusions afterwards to make sure the disease was completely gone.

“It was a little bit scary because they do really (emphasize) the fact that your immune system is suppressed,” she recalled. Summers stayed at home most of the time, venturing out only for doctor’s appointments and relying on others to do grocery shopping. Like many cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy, she struggled with losing her hair, which was a big part of her identity, she said.

Most breast cancers are found in women who are 50 years old or older, but 9% of cases are reported in women under 45, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Risk factors for this younger group include having a close relative who was diagnosed with breast cancer before the age of 45, having mutations in breast cancer genes such as BRCA1 and BRCA2, and having Ashkenazi Jewish heritage.

While lumps in the breast are a more common sign of cancer, there are other symptoms to be aware of: dents or dimples in the breast, red or flaky rash, swelling, nipple discharge or an inverted nipple.


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