Breast Cancer: 732 Real Stories
732 stories match breast cancer. 559 of them mention surgery.
Stage 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…
Read this storyHER2-Positive Invasive Ductal Carcinoma: June’s Patient Story
June Lee first had breast cancer in April 2005, when she was 43. A mammogram found early signs of cancer in her left breast, even though the lump she had felt was on the right. She was diagnosed with ductal carcinoma in situ, had a lumpectomy, and received…
Read this storyStage IV HER2-Positive Breast Cancer: Pilar’s Patient Story
Pilar was 43 and living with metastatic hormone receptor-positive, HER2-positive breast cancer. Before cancer, she had trained as a special-education and early-childhood teacher, spent 14 years in Nicaragua, worked with young people and families affected by…
Read this storyBreast Cancer: Ana’s Patient Story
Ana was 45 when breast cancer was found during her annual gynecology review. A small lump appeared on ultrasound even though mammography had missed it. Further palpation and biopsy showed breast cancer described to her as aggressive. An extension study found…
Read this storyBreast Cancer: Nurguel’s Patient Story
Nurguel Dogan was 40, married, and the mother of 2 sons when she described breast cancer diagnosed in 2009. A lump was found during regular early-detection care, and biopsy confirmed the diagnosis. Her first worry was for her sons, who were 10 and 11…
Read this storyBreast Cancer: Ulrike’s Survivor Story
Ulrike Blessinger was 40 when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Cancer was already familiar in her family, so she had thought about the subject before, but the diagnosis still changed her life. She found some comfort in having choices and a clear…
Read this storyBreast Cancer: Marion’s Survivor Story
Marion Pfulding was 54 at the time of her interview. Because her mother had died of breast cancer more than 35 years earlier, regular early-detection care mattered to her. After moving to a new city, there was a break while she found new doctors. Once she…
Read this storyBreast Cancer: Marie-Ève’s Survivor Story
Marie-Ève was a mother of 3 young children when she faced breast cancer 16 years before sharing her story. Her treatment path included chemotherapy, mastectomy, radiation therapy, reconstruction, and hormone therapy. She described those treatments as…
Read this storyBreast Cancer: Rosemarie’s Survivor Story
Rosemarie Berthel was 74 at the time of her interview and had received her breast cancer diagnosis at 71. She was widowed, the mother of 4, and already a grandmother and great-grandmother. Mammography had shown scattered abnormal cells in 2007, but she…
Read this storyBreast Cancer: Séverine’s Survivor Story
Séverine was diagnosed with breast cancer when her daughter was only 8 months old, just 7 months after her own mother had died of cancer. The diagnosis made her think immediately about survival and about being present for her child. She responded by taking…
Read this storyBreast Cancer: Nicole’s Survivor Story
Nicole Bissinger was 44 when she described Paget carcinoma of the breast diagnosed in 2009. The first sign was a small wound on her right nipple. For about 1.5 years, it was treated as eczema with cortisone before a biopsy finally showed Paget carcinoma…
Read this storyBreast Cancer: Amandine’s Survivor Story
Amandine was 34 when she learned she had breast cancer. The diagnosis shocked her because she had not realized breast cancer could affect someone so young. After treatment, she became determined not to let illness define the rest of her life. Sport and…
Read this storyBreast Cancer: Iris’s Survivor Story
Iris Ludwig was 30 when breast cancer was diagnosed in 2001. Because she worked in a medical field, she already knew what many cancer treatments could involve, yet the diagnosis still left her feeling unable to react. Chemotherapy began before…
Read this storyStage III Breast Cancer: Corinne’s Patient Story
Corinne was 54 when breast cancer became a central part of her life. Her story describes more than a single treatment moment: it includes repeated breast cancer experiences over several years and the emotional work of continuing forward after each step…
Read this storyBreast Cancer: Eva’s Patient Story
Eva Manz was 39 and living with her partner when she looked back on 2 breast cancer diagnoses. She was first diagnosed at 31. At that time, her left breast was removed and reconstructed at the same operation. The loss of the breast affected her deeply, even…
Read this storyStage II Breast Cancer: Sylvie’s Patient Story
Sylvie was 40 when she faced breast cancer. Her care began with breast-conserving surgery, and her story later included treatment for recurrence. The experience meant moving through more than 1 phase of cancer care, rather than closing the chapter after the…
Read this storyBRCA1 Breast Cancer: Alina’s Survivor Story
Alina Schiller was 30 when she shared life after early-stage breast cancer. She found a lump while changing clothes and went to a gynecologist, who referred her to a breast center. Biopsy confirmed breast cancer in 2018, and BRCA1 testing found a mutation at…
Read this storyBRCA1 Breast Cancer: Julia’s Patient Story
Julia Bring was 28 when she described breast cancer that began just 2 months after her wedding. She and her husband had been planning for a child when mammography and biopsy led to the diagnosis in August 2010. Because she was only 25, her doctors…
Read this storyStage I Breast Cancer: Béatrice’s Survivor Story
Béatrice’s breast cancer was found very early, when the tumor was described as only 2 mm. Because it was detected at such a small size, her treatment path was different from many longer breast cancer journeys. She had a mastectomy with immediate…
Read this storyBreast Cancer: Dagmar’s Patient Story
Dagmar Schiffer was 51 when she found a lump in her breast in 2011. Because her mother had also had breast cancer, she quickly saw her gynecologist. Breast cancer was diagnosed, and Dagmar had breast-conserving surgery with removal of affected lymph nodes…
Read this storyTriple-Negative Breast Cancer: Doris’s Survivor Story
Doris Teller was 58, divorced, and living on her own when she described treatment for triple-negative breast cancer. Her mammogram had been normal, but about 3 months later she felt a hard area in her breast. When the lump grew, her gynecologist ordered a…
Read this storyStage II Breast Cancer: Danielle’s Survivor Story
Danielle was 68 when she faced Stage II breast cancer. Her treatment path was intensive and included a mastectomy, chemotherapy, 5 weeks of radiation therapy, and immunotherapy described as a way to lower the chance of recurrence. The physical side of…
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