Breast Cancer: 732 Real Stories
732 stories match breast cancer. 559 of them mention surgery.
Stage II Invasive Ductal Carcinoma: Charlotte’s Survivor Story
Charlotte was preparing to retire to a quiet cabin in northwestern Minnesota when breast cancer interrupted the plan. About 2 weeks before her 2024 annual mammogram, she felt pain in her right breast. She had long had an inflamed duct on the left side, so at…
Read this storyBreast Cancer: Margarita’s Patient Story
Margarita “Mickey” Miller was an active coach and sprint-triathlon participant before breast cancer was found during a routine checkup. Her first concern was how to tell her husband and children. During treatment, even walking to the bathroom could feel…
Read this storyStage IV Breast Cancer: Iris’s Patient Story
Iris Lopez-Mendez first faced breast cancer in 2010 after feeling a lump in her right breast. Mammogram and biopsy confirmed Stage IIA breast cancer, and she was treated with lumpectomy, radiation, and chemotherapy. For years afterward, she kept up with…
Read this storyBreast Cancer: Marissa’s Survivor Story
Marissa Coreno was 27 when she felt a breast lump in June 2021. She was young, healthy, living independently, and had no family history of breast cancer, so she did not expect the lump to be serious. Diagnostic imaging at Cleveland Clinic Fairview Hospital…
Read this storyStage IV Breast Cancer: Linda’s Patient Story
Linda Norman was approaching her 60th birthday in January 2019 when a routine mammogram found a small mass in her left breast. Biopsy confirmed breast cancer. She had a lumpectomy, then 10 radiation treatments over 2 weeks. Anastrozole caused extreme joint…
Read this storyStage III Invasive Ductal Carcinoma: Maria’s Patient Story
Maria first noticed a painful breast lump and thought it might be a cyst related to a previous surgery. Over time, the symptoms became harder to ignore. She described dimpling, darkening, burning sensations, redness, and a lump large enough to show through a…
Read this storyStage IV Breast Cancer: Suzy’s Survivor Story
Suzy was a respiratory therapist with 17 years of experience when her own symptoms were dismissed. In late 2022, she noticed a lump under her collarbone and frequent pain in her left breast. A clear mammogram the year before made clinicians less concerned…
Read this storyStage III Triple-Negative Breast Cancer: Paula’s Survivor Story
Paula Jones was 43 when a routine mammogram in February 2010 found a small spot in her left breast that she could not feel and her doctor could not detect by exam. Because she had lost her mother to breast cancer at age 7, Paula had started screening in her…
Read this storyBreast Cancer: Fiorella’s Survivor Story
Fiorella was a young mother balancing work and raising her 5-year-old when she found a small lump in her breast. The finding disrupted everyday life quickly. Her doctor considered it suspicious, and Fiorella entered a breast cancer journey that included…
Read this storyBreast Cancer: Dolly’s Survivor Story
Dolly Chua was living in Makati, Philippines, when she felt a breast lump in the shower in 2019. Mammogram and ultrasound confirmed breast cancer, and she wanted the best treatment she could find even if it meant traveling. Her daughters independently found…
Read this storyStage IV HER2-Positive Breast Cancer: Elissa’s Patient Story
Elissa was 34 and only a few months postpartum when numbness in her feet began interfering with daily life. She could not keep shoes on comfortably and could barely play tennis for 20 to 30 minutes. Because she had recently given birth, the symptoms were easy…
Read this storyStage III Triple-Negative Breast Cancer: Lynn’s Survivor Story
Lynn Leiro was 36 when back pain, fatigue and then a lump in her armpit led to a Stage IIIC triple-negative breast cancer diagnosis in 2022. Imaging showed five breast tumors and a swollen lymph node; a later CT scan found more cancerous lymph nodes in her…
Read this storyTriple-Negative Breast Cancer: LaToya’s Survivor Story
LaToya Bolds-Johnson is a triple-negative breast cancer survivor whose work connects personal experience with clinical-trials advocacy. As a Physician Associate and patient advocate, she brings 2 perspectives to the conversation: what it feels like to face…
Read this storyStage III HR-Positive Invasive Lobular Carcinoma: Courtney’s Patient Story
Courtney was 37 and pregnant with her 3rd child when she first found a lump in her left breast in February 2022. Ultrasound showed a 5 mm hypoechoic mass that was considered probably benign, and mammogram did not show it because of dense breast tissue. She…
Read this storyStage I Triple-Negative Breast Cancer: Melissa’s Survivor Story
Melissa Eppard is a Stage I triple-negative breast cancer survivor whose story focuses on reclaiming comfort, pleasure, and confidence after cancer. As a cancer thriver, coach, and co-founder of Upstate Mary, she speaks openly about intimacy concerns that…
Read this storyHR-Positive Breast Cancer: Sara’s Patient Story
Sara Glenn was 38 when she felt a peanut-sized breast lump during a self-exam in summer 2024, while her family was moving from North Carolina to Southern California. Mammogram, ultrasound and biopsy showed a 2 cm grade 1A-1B ER-positive, HER2-negative breast…
Read this storyBRCA1 Breast Cancer: Kathy’s Survivor Story
Kathy Baker's cancer story became closely tied to genetic testing after breast cancer and later ovarian cancer changed how she understood family risk. Her family history included a sister diagnosed with breast cancer at 32. Kathy was later diagnosed with…
Read this storyStage IV Breast Cancer: Queen’s Patient Story
Queen was 31 when she was diagnosed with breast cancer after growing up with a strong family history of the disease. Her mother and aunt had both faced breast cancer, so the diagnosis carried personal and family weight from the beginning. Queen’s story later…
Read this storyStage IV HER2-Positive Breast Cancer: Kathleen’s Patient Story
Kathleen McEvoy-Schufreider was first diagnosed in 2011 with early-stage HER2-positive, hormone receptor-positive breast cancer. She joined a clinical trial and received 16 weeks of paclitaxel with trastuzumab. After surgery, she received 4 doses of AC…
Read this storyStage IV HER2-Positive Breast Cancer: Jennifer’s Survivor Story
Jennifer Masters was 63 when she described the long road through Stage IV HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer. She first noticed a lump in her left breast in February 2016 but waited several months before seeing a doctor. After a diagnosis of HER2-positive…
Read this storyStage III HR-Positive Invasive Lobular Carcinoma: Tanya’s Patient Story
Tanya was 44 when she was diagnosed in 2016 with Stage IIIA invasive lobular carcinoma in her left breast. She had noticed a painful lump for about 1 year, but her first concern was dismissed because she had no family history and was told breast cancer was…
Read this storyStage II BRCA2 Invasive Ductal Carcinoma: Onjalai’s Survivor Story
Onjalai Brown was 36 when she felt pain behind one nipple and then a lump about the size of a ping-pong ball. Her family history made the fear especially real: on her mother’s side, eight women had breast cancer and four men had prostate cancer, likely…
Read this storyTriple-Negative Breast Cancer: Lauren’s Survivor Story
Lauren Yerkes turned her experience with triple-negative breast cancer into a practical mission for people trying to feel comfortable in swimwear after surgery. She was diagnosed at 38 and later founded POST SWIM after facing the gap between ordinary swimwear…
Read this storyBreast Cancer: Honey’s Survivor Story
Honey Hilliard was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2020 after feeling a lump in the middle of the night. Her doctors told her the finding was serious enough that she could pursue more biopsy and radiation or choose a bilateral mastectomy. Honey wanted the…
Read this story