Breast Cancer: 732 Real Stories
732 stories match breast cancer. 559 of them mention surgery.
Triple-Negative Breast Cancer: Juliette’s Survivor Story
Juliette Landgrave was 38, healthy and years away from routine mammography when she felt a breast lump in the shower. Imaging found two tumors: the one she could feel and another deeper tumor seen only on MRI. She was diagnosed with triple-negative breast…
Read this storyBreast Cancer: Anna’s Survivor Story
Anna was 37 and living in Brooklyn with her husband, Jordan, and their 3-year-old son when she found a breast lump on her birthday. At first, the lump did not feel strongly suspicious to the doctor, and Anna had no obvious family-history or lifestyle risk…
Read this storyStage IV Breast Cancer: Nina’s Survivor Story
Nina was 34 when she noticed hardening under her left armpit. About 1 year later, the lump had grown and her breast began to show dimpling. A mammogram and ultrasound found an abnormal lump, and a biopsy confirmed Stage III breast cancer. Soon afterward…
Read this storyStage IV Triple-Negative Breast Cancer: Deltra’s Patient Story
Deltra James was diagnosed at 33 with de novo Stage IV triple-negative metastatic breast cancer and later became a voice for people navigating love, identity, and confidence while living with advanced disease. In this part of the Empowered Intimacy series…
Read this storyBreast Cancer: Shay’s Survivor Story
Shay Martin is a breast cancer survivor whose work in sexual wellness shaped how she talks about intimacy after treatment. As president and owner of Vibratex, she brings both personal experience and product knowledge to a topic many survivors find difficult…
Read this storyStage IV HER2-Positive Breast Cancer: Nina’s Survivor Story
Nina was 34 when she was diagnosed with Stage IV metastatic breast cancer. Her first sign was a hard strip under her left armpit, not the small pea-like lump she had been told to watch for. At first, she was reassured because she was young, had dense breast…
Read this storyStage II Invasive Ductal Carcinoma: Lauren’s Survivor Story
Lauren found a lump in her right breast during a self-exam and quickly contacted her doctor. She was referred to radiology for an ultrasound and biopsy, which led to a diagnosis of invasive ductal breast cancer. Her cancer was Stage II. At first, a sentinel…
Read this storyInvasive Lobular Carcinoma: Brenda’s Survivor Story
Brenda was diagnosed with invasive lobular carcinoma in September 2023. She had never heard of the subtype before. Her radiologist noticed what looked like a scar on her mammogram and recommended a biopsy. That extra step found the cancer at an early stage…
Read this storyHR-Positive Breast Cancer: Anna’s Survivor Story
Anna found a breast lump on her 37th birthday. Her gynecologist initially did not consider it urgent, but Anna pushed for further testing. Because she had dense breast tissue, ultrasound was important in identifying the tumor, and a biopsy confirmed…
Read this storyHR-Positive Breast Cancer: Anna’s Survivor Story
Anna Rathkopf was 37 when she found a lump in her breast on her birthday. She was living in Brooklyn with her husband and their 2.5-year-old son, and they had just started thinking about a second child. A prior doctor had told her she did not need a mammogram…
Read this storyStage II Triple-Negative Breast Cancer: Italia’s Survivor Story
Italia Russell was 30 when she found a breast lump in August 2023, 1 month after learning she carried a BRCA mutation that increased her lifetime breast cancer risk. Her mother had been treated 15 years earlier for Stage II triple-negative breast cancer and…
Read this storyBreast Cancer: Francina’s Survivor Story
Francina had no breast cancer symptoms when her routine mammogram the day after Christmas found something suspicious. A few days later, her doctor called her back for another mammogram and an ultrasound because a mass had been seen. The ultrasound confirmed…
Read this storyBreast Cancer: Donna’s Survivor Story
Donna Fraser was a professional sprinter and four-time Olympian when breast cancer entered her life in 2009. The diagnosis came while she was still an athlete, raising difficult questions about strength, identity, and whether she could rebuild fitness after…
Read this storyBRCA2 Breast Cancer: Sue’s Survivor Story
Sue Friedman was 33 and working as a veterinarian when she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1996. At the time, she did not know she had signs of hereditary cancer risk. After finishing treatment, she read more about hereditary breast cancer and pursued…
Read this storyTriple-Negative Breast Cancer: Erica’s Survivor Story
Erica Watson was 51 when pain and a breast lump led to a diagnosis of triple-negative breast cancer. She had stayed current with mammograms and had breast cancer in her family, so the diagnosis still came as a shock. A formal stage was not shared, but her…
Read this storyStage IV HR-Positive Invasive Ductal Carcinoma: Dee’s Patient Story
Dee was 31 and breastfeeding in 2017 when pain in her left breast was followed by a large lump. Her symptoms were initially minimized because of her age, but she kept pushing for answers and eventually had an ultrasound through a private hospital. She was…
Read this storyBreast Cancer: Cécilia’s Patient Story
Cécilia had been followed for benign mastosis since 2018, but during pregnancy she noticed changes that felt different. Her breast became less mobile and more rigid, the skin darkened and looked like orange peel, and the nipple retracted. A general…
Read this storyStage IV Triple-Negative Breast Cancer: Deltra’s Patient Story
Deltra James was diagnosed at 33 with de novo Stage IV triple-negative metastatic breast cancer. In this conversation with Melissa Berry, she focused on the emotional and body-image side of living after a breast cancer diagnosis. Cancer can leave visible and…
Read this storyInvasive Ductal Carcinoma: Lauren’s Survivor Story
Lauren O’Connell, a beauty editor and mother of 2 living in Dubai, found her breast cancer during a self-exam in December 2023. She felt a large lump in the 12 o’clock area of her right breast and quickly had imaging and a biopsy. The diagnosis was invasive…
Read this storyInvasive Lobular Carcinoma: Lori’s Survivor Story
Lori was 64 and living in Fairbanks, Alaska, when her lobular breast cancer was found through routine screening. A yearly mammogram in 2021 showed architectural distortion, and follow-up ultrasound in January 2022 found jagged edges on imaging. A February…
Read this storyStage IV HER2-Positive Invasive Ductal Carcinoma: Dee’s Patient Story
Dee Doherty was first diagnosed at age 31 with Stage III invasive ductal carcinoma and extensive DCIS in her left breast. Her early signs included trouble producing milk on the left side while breastfeeding, then breast pain and a growing lumpy area. Because…
Read this storyStage IV Breast Cancer: Lourdes’s Patient Story
Lourdes Monje was 25 when they noticed a new mass in their chest in October 2020. After an ultrasound, biopsy, and several scans, they were diagnosed with Stage IV breast cancer in January 2021. The diagnosis disrupted plans for a new career and brought…
Read this storyStage IV KRAS Breast Cancer: Lauren’s Patient Story
Lauren, from Houston, first found a breast lump in 2014 after breastfeeding her second child. It was initially dismissed as a fibroadenoma, but 2 years later she developed breast pain and noticed that her left nipple looked unusual. She was diagnosed with…
Read this storyBreast Cancer: Liz’s Survivor Story
Liz O'Riordan brings an unusual perspective to breast cancer: she has lived it as both a breast surgeon and a patient. After facing breast cancer three times, she became known for speaking plainly about the parts of cancer care that are often hidden…
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