Breast Cancer: 732 Real Stories
732 stories match breast cancer. 559 of them mention surgery.
Stage III Invasive Lobular Carcinoma: Lucy’s Survivor Story
Lucy was 47 when she found a pea-sized lump in the outer quadrant of her right breast during a self-exam in 2003. A mammogram and ultrasound did not show cancer, and she was told the lump was a fluid-filled cyst. Over the next 15 months, the area grew to the…
Read this storyStage II Invasive Lobular Carcinoma: Alma’s Patient Story
Alma had always been vigilant about breast self-checks and annual mammograms because her mother had been treated for breast cancer. After moving from St. Louis to Australia with her husband and 2 sons, she began having recurring pain on her left side and…
Read this storyInvasive Ductal Carcinoma: Wang’s Patient Story
Wang Youhua, a 66-year-old woman from East Java, Indonesia, was diagnosed in November 2011 with invasive ductal carcinoma of the right breast at Modern Cancer Hospital Guangzhou. She received treatment there, was described as well controlled at discharge, and…
Read this storyStage IV HR-Positive Breast Cancer: Robbie’s Patient Story
Robbie first faced breast cancer in early 2012 with Stage 0 DCIS. She then received a second, more serious diagnosis in mid-2013: Stage II estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer on the left side, with a very large tumor. Treatment included major surgery…
Read this storyStage I Breast Cancer: Dianne’s Survivor Story
Dianne Austin had been healthy and had kept up with annual mammograms since turning 40, so her 2015 breast cancer diagnosis was a shock. A mammogram found something suspicious that was initially thought likely to be a cyst. Further evaluation showed breast…
Read this storyStage I Breast Cancer: Kevin’s Patient Story
Kevin Jarvis found 2 small, hard lumps under his left nipple while showering in April 2013. After seeing “male breast cancer” during an online search, he made an appointment with his GP when he returned from a family trip. Ultrasound and biopsy confirmed…
Read this storyStage I Invasive Lobular Carcinoma: Patty’s Patient Story
Patty Schone was 63 when a routine mammogram found an abnormality in her left breast. At first, she was diagnosed with ductal carcinoma in situ, or DCIS, in that breast and was scheduled for a mastectomy. Because Patty had dense breast tissue, her surgeon…
Read this storyStage I Invasive Ductal Carcinoma: Karen’s Survivor Story
Karen Powell is an oncology nurse practitioner and menopause specialist who became a breast cancer patient at 39. She was also a mother of 4, with children ages 9, 8-year-old twins, and 3. Karen found the lump by chance when she brushed her hand across it…
Read this storyStage III Breast Cancer: Cher’s Survivor Story
Cher first noticed a sore lump under her arm after recovering from COVID and thought it might be a swollen lymph node. When it grew larger and more painful, she went for evaluation. Ultrasound and lymph-node biopsy showed breast cancer, but imaging still…
Read this storyBreast Cancer: Roger’s Patient Story
Roger was diagnosed with prostate cancer and then breast cancer within 6 months, an experience that shocked him because he had not realized men could get breast cancer. His breast cancer stage and subtype were not reported. The treatment detail that is…
Read this storyStage II Invasive Ductal Carcinoma: Dwan’s Survivor Story
Dwan Thomas, a chemical engineer, was diagnosed with Stage II breast cancer in 2017 after noticing something different in her left breast. At her OB/GYN appointment in March, she had a mammogram, ultrasound and breast biopsy. The diagnosis was HER2-negative…
Read this storyStage IV HER2-Positive Breast Cancer Survivor Story
An unnamed mother of 4 was 37 when she was diagnosed with Stage IIB breast cancer in December 2010. Her initial treatment included A/C followed by T/Herceptin, then a bilateral mastectomy and 36 radiation treatments. She stayed on Herceptin for about 8…
Read this storyBreast Cancer: Genevieve’s Survivor Story
Genevieve first found breast cancer in 1987, at age 40, after noticing a small hard lump in her right breast. Surgery removed the tumor and lymph nodes while preserving the breast, and pathology showed an aggressive non-hormone-receptive cancer. She received…
Read this storyStage II Invasive Ductal Carcinoma: Roxanne’s Survivor Story
Roxanne, from Anchorage, Alaska, was 36 when she was diagnosed with Stage IIB grade 3 invasive ductal carcinoma in April 2024. The first clue came the previous summer, when her boyfriend noticed a bump in the right breast. She saw her primary care doctor in…
Read this storyStage I Breast Cancer: Vanessa’s Survivor Story
Vanessa Cuccurullo’s Stage I breast cancer story is centered on the long stretch between diagnosis, surgery, reconstruction, and the first clear follow-up. Her age, biomarker status, and exact surgery type were not shared, but her experience was shaped by…
Read this storyStage I Breast Cancer Survivor Story
This unnamed woman describes life after an early breast cancer diagnosis treated with surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy. The cancer was identified as Stage I breast cancer, but biomarkers, surgery type, chemotherapy drugs, and radiation details were not…
Read this storyBreast Cancer: Michele’s Survivor Story
Michele Adams, a Breastcancer.org community member from Tabernacle, New Jersey, describes breast cancer as an experience that unexpectedly changed the direction of her life. Her age, stage, biomarkers, and whether she received chemotherapy, radiation, or…
Read this storyTriple-Negative Breast Cancer: Valerie’s Survivor Story
Valerie Hamilton was 56 when she was diagnosed with locally advanced triple-negative breast cancer. The tumor was large, and doctors outside MSK had told her she would need a mastectomy. That possibility felt overwhelming: Valerie loved her body and worried…
Read this storyStage II BRCA2 Breast Cancer: Rachel’s Patient Story
Rachel Zitofsky was 38 when she noticed a lump and was diagnosed with Stage II breast cancer in April 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic. She went to MSK Commack and met with a breast surgeon to plan treatment. MRI showed additional suspicious areas in her…
Read this storyStage I Invasive Ductal Carcinoma: Jill’s Survivor Story
Jill was diagnosed with Stage I invasive ductal carcinoma of the left breast in spring 2016. After more than 20 years working on Wall Street, she approached treatment by gathering information and making decisions quickly. Her MSK breast surgeon reviewed her…
Read this storyBreast Cancer: Susan’s Survivor Story
Susan Ruffini was treated for breast cancer at MSK Commack in 2006. Her breast cancer subtype, stage, surgery details and chemotherapy regimen were not provided. The focus is what came after treatment: Susan was declared cancer-free, but then developed…
Read this storyStage II HR-Positive Invasive Lobular Carcinoma: Eutha’s Survivor Story
Eutha Prince was diagnosed with Stage II invasive ductal and lobular breast carcinoma in 2012 after a suspicious finding on her yearly mammogram led to ultrasound and biopsy. Her tumor was estrogen receptor-positive, progesterone receptor-positive and…
Read this storyStage I Breast Cancer: Rosanna’s Survivor Story
Rosanna Silber was 31, finishing a doctorate in nursing and planning her wedding, when she noticed a pea-sized lump in her left breast. A local doctor thought it was likely a benign cyst, but Rosanna knew her body and pushed for more testing after returning…
Read this storyStage IV Breast Cancer: Amy’s Survivor Story
Amy Mannarino was first diagnosed with Stage I breast cancer in November 2014 after a routine mammogram. She had a lumpectomy at MSK Commack, then started tamoxifen because chemotherapy was not expected to work well for her type and stage of cancer. Tamoxifen…
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