Breast Cancer: 732 Real Stories
732 stories match breast cancer. 559 of them mention surgery.
Stage III Triple-Negative Breast Cancer: Anne’s Survivor Story
Anne was 11 weeks pregnant with her third child when she was diagnosed on June 11, 2022, with Stage III poorly differentiated metaplastic triple-negative breast cancer. She was building a career in pediatric surgery and expecting a son after two daughters…
Read this storyStage IV Breast Cancer: Kattysmith’s Patient Story
Kattysmith was first diagnosed with borderline Stage I/II breast cancer in 2003, shortly before turning 51. She underwent lumpectomy with sentinel-node biopsy, which showed no spread, followed by radiation and tamoxifen. After years of follow-up, breast…
Read this storyStage IV Breast Cancer: Rhonda’s Patient Story
Rhonda Schaller was living with metastatic breast cancer and the reality that progression could bring another treatment line. She described allowing herself to feel worry, tears, tiredness, confusion, and moments of laughter rather than trying to suppress any…
Read this storyBreast Cancer: Naomi’s Patient Story
Naomi was diagnosed with breast cancer in March 2024 while raising two children, ages six and eight. Chemotherapy caused rapid hair and weight loss, and she wore a wig because her children were frightened by how ill she looked. A mastectomy brought both…
Read this storyStage III Breast Cancer: Lex’s Patient Story
Lex was a mother of two young children, working full time and running a household, when she was diagnosed with Stage III bilateral breast cancer. She was already experiencing burnout and felt unable to connect with the familiar language of “fighting” cancer…
Read this storyBreast Cancer: Adriana’s Survivor Story
Adriana was 34 and living in Israel when she noticed a breast lump. As a doctor with a strong awareness of her family history, she recognized that the mammogram looked concerning. She flew to Brazil the next morning because she could obtain a biopsy more…
Read this storyBRCA Breast Cancer: Susana’s Survivor Story
Susana, a preschool teacher, noticed a hollow or indentation in the lower part of her breast. Cancer was already familiar in her family, and she knew she carried a BRCA gene mutation. The diagnosis led to removal of both breasts. Surgery was difficult: the…
Read this storyStage IV Breast Cancer: Lie’s Patient Story
Lie Huang, a 66-year-old woman from Indonesia, found an egg-sized breast lump in August 2014. She already lived with heart disease, diabetes, and hypertension, so another major illness felt especially frightening. Hoping the lump would disappear, she first…
Read this storyStage IV Breast Cancer: Helen’s Patient Story
Helen was diagnosed with advanced metastatic breast cancer after working for 14 years as a clinical research nurse at The Christie. Because of her professional background, she understood more than most what cancer treatment could involve, but the diagnosis…
Read this storyBreast Cancer: Gemina’s Survivor Story
Gemina, a health journalist, remembered the key months of her breast cancer story clearly: when she first noticed that something was wrong, when the diagnosis was confirmed, and when surgery took place. Because of her professional background, she understood…
Read this storyStage IV Breast Cancer: Rachel’s Patient Story
Rachel has been connected with The Christie since 2011, when she was diagnosed with Stage 4 breast cancer. She considered herself fortunate because her treatment did not require surgery. Instead, she managed the disease with hormone treatment and oral…
Read this storyStage IV BRCA Breast Cancer: Carolina’s Patient Story
Carolina, originally from Bogotá, moved alone to Spain in 2002 to study. Years later, she faced breast cancer in a difficult and physically demanding way. Her cancer was metastatic from the start, and she was found to carry a BRCA gene mutation. Because of…
Read this storyBreast Cancer: Michelle’s Survivor Story
Michelle Hardiman, from Norden, was diagnosed with breast cancer in June 2023. She was referred to The Christie at Oldham for radiotherapy because it was closer to home than the main Christie site in Withington. The location mattered. Radiotherapy left her…
Read this storyBreast Cancer: Carol’s Survivor Story
Carol had only just turned 30 when she found out she had breast cancer. She wanted to have a baby, so one of her first fears was that cancer treatment might take away that possibility. Even with that worry, she knew treatment had to come first. Carol was…
Read this storyStage 0 Invasive Ductal Carcinoma Survivor Story
This patient decided to go to a breast clinic for screening and had mammography and ultrasound. The doctor told her she had cancer in both breasts, and the shock was so great that she could hardly remember the rest of the conversation. After referral to a…
Read this storyStage IV HER2-Positive Breast Cancer Patient Story
This patient had regular breast screening every year, alternating mammography and ultrasound. One screening found a 1.5 cm breast tumor. She had not thought of herself as high risk: she exercised, felt healthy, and did not match the common risk factors she…
Read this storyStage IV HER2-Positive Breast Cancer: Regina’s Patient Story
Regina Ritter was 51 at the time of her interview and a mother of 4. Her breast cancer began in May 2008, when she was 47 and felt something painful and very large in her right breast. Further examinations found a tumor, and CT also showed a liver metastasis…
Read this storyStage IV HER2-Positive Breast Cancer: Leftfootforward’s Survivor Story
Leftfootforward was 37 when she was diagnosed with Stage IIB breast cancer in December 2010. Her treatment began with A/C chemotherapy and then Herceptin. She had a bilateral mastectomy, followed by 36 rounds of radiation. Herceptin continued for about 8…
Read this storyBreast Cancer: Natalie’s Survivor Story
Natalie Yates-Bolton’s cancer history began at age 22 with Hodgkin lymphoma. She was treated, but the lymphoma returned 14 years later, when she was 36. After treatment for that second lymphoma, she later faced breast cancer at age 43, and the breast cancer…
Read this storyBreast Cancer: Cindy-Anne’s Survivor Story
Cindy-Anne Manoo was working as a personal support worker when a resident accidentally hit her in the chest. A sore area remained, and she later felt a lump. Ultrasound, mammogram, and biopsy led to a breast cancer diagnosis on December 21, 2021, her 44th…
Read this storyHR-Positive Breast Cancer: Toni’s Patient Story
Toni S was 59 when she was diagnosed with triple-positive breast cancer in February 2021. She learned that this type of breast cancer is hormone receptor-positive and HER2-positive, and her oncologist explained that there were medicines that could target her…
Read this storyStage II BRCA1 Invasive Ductal Carcinoma: Stephanie’s Patient Story
Stephanie Hargis was 25 when she found a painful lump in her right breast in March 2022. With no family history and her young age, she and her clinicians first thought it might be an inflamed lymph node. Ultrasound and biopsy instead showed Stage II…
Read this storyInvasive Ductal Carcinoma: LAM64’s Survivor Story
LAM64 was diagnosed with breast cancer in November 2019 after imaging of the left breast showed a mass at the 3 o’clock position. Follow-up mammogram and ultrasound at Emory Breast Center confirmed the mass and also showed an enlarged left axillary lymph…
Read this storyBreast Cancer: Sandra’s Survivor Story
Sandra Christianson was born in 1972 and lost her mother to breast cancer when she was 15. In her late 30s, she was diagnosed with invasive breast cancer and chose lumpectomy, followed by chemotherapy and radiation. A port was placed in late February 2012…
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