Surgery for Breast Cancer: 559 Real Stories
559 stories match breast cancer and surgery. 392 of them mention chemotherapy.
Stage IV Breast Cancer: Lianne’s Patient Story
Lianne Kraemer was 37 when a small painful area in her left breast led to imaging and a biopsy in late 2013. She was diagnosed with Stage II breast cancer involving lymph nodes. In 2014, she underwent a double mastectomy, chemotherapy, reconstruction, and…
Read this storyHER2-Positive Breast Cancer: Feyama’s Survivor Story
Feyama Ashby, a quality and compliance coordinator in MD Anderson’s diagnostic labs, noticed pain in her sternum that extended into her right breast. She initially thought she had pulled a muscle while working out, but the timing lined up with her annual…
Read this storyStage III Breast Cancer: Christal’s Survivor Story
Christal Love was 39 when she was diagnosed with Stage III breast cancer, described as aggressive hormone-positive, HER2-negative disease that had spread to her lymph nodes. She began treatment locally with chemotherapy. The first cycle used Taxol. During a…
Read this storyBreast Cancer: Kehau’s Survivor Story
At 78, Kehau Matsumoto described herself as a five-time cancer survivor and patient advocate in Hawaii. Her first breast cancer was found on a routine mammogram in 1993. Afraid of surgery, she chose radiation therapy. Breast cancer later returned more than…
Read this storyStage III Triple-Negative Breast Cancer: Marlena’s Patient Story
Marlena Murphy was 40 when she found a lump in her left breast during a monthly self-exam in 2018. Mammography, ultrasound, biopsy, and MRI led to a diagnosis of Stage III triple-negative breast cancer involving nearby lymph nodes. Marlena began chemotherapy…
Read this storyInvasive Lobular Carcinoma: Daneen’s Survivor Story
Daneen had surgery for lobular carcinoma in situ at age 32 and was monitored closely afterward. Tamoxifen was discussed as a preventive option, but she and her husband were trying to have a child after years of infertility and unsuccessful IVF. In June 1999…
Read this storyHER2-Positive Breast Cancer: Tamara’s Patient Story
Tamara was 30, recently returned from the United States, and had just given birth when she noticed a small lump in her armpit during breastfeeding. She was first reassured that it was probably a lactation-related cyst, but because her mother had died of…
Read this storyBRCA1 Breast Cancer: Janice’s Patient Story
Janice Dolnick had already been through a long breast cancer journey before she came to Dana-Farber in 2018. Over the previous 21 years, she had undergone 2 rounds of breast cancer treatment and a bilateral mastectomy. Genetic testing had shown that she…
Read this storyStage I Breast Cancer: Lorena’s Patient Story
Lorena, a Colombian woman living in Miami, first felt something was wrong during a trip to Spain. Her hands and feet went numb, and although others thought it was travel fatigue, she kept insisting that her body felt different. Back in Miami, her doctor…
Read this storyInvasive Lobular Carcinoma: Jo’s Survivor Story
Jo was 56 and receiving twice-yearly ultrasound and annual mammography because of dense, cystic breasts. During 2021, several suspicious areas in the left breast were biopsied and found to be benign. A technician later noticed an area in the right breast, but…
Read this storyInvasive Lobular Carcinoma: Eileen’s Survivor Story
Eileen’s lobular breast cancer was diagnosed in September 2018, when a radiologist called just after her plane landed. Early consultations suggested lumpectomy and 5 weeks of radiation, but an MRI changed the plan. What first appeared to be a line of invasive…
Read this storyStage II HER2-Positive Breast Cancer: María’s Survivor Story
María Ángeles found a small lump in her armpit while showering, just months after a divorce and during a stressful period of rebuilding her life. She had also had fever and some weight loss, but the lump was the sign that pushed her to see her gynecologist. A…
Read this storyBRCA1 Breast Cancer: Mary’s Patient Story
In 2017, this nurse underwent a mammogram after her doctor raised concerns about very high inflammatory markers and a family history of ovarian cancer. The mammogram detected early-stage breast cancer. A second evaluation at MD Anderson showed that the breast…
Read this storyStage IV HER2-Positive Breast Cancer: Loli’s Patient Story
Loli was 63 when she shared the story of having breast cancer 3 times. About 4 years earlier, she felt a hard area in her breast, like mastitis, and quickly saw her gynecologist. An urgent ultrasound and biopsy led to a HER2-positive breast cancer diagnosis…
Read this storyInvasive Lobular Carcinoma: Stephanie’s Patient Story
Stephanie was 68 when she shared a long breast cancer history. In 2004, a routine mammogram found an abnormality on the right side. She had a needle-localized biopsy, lumpectomy, and sentinel node biopsy, then was diagnosed with ductal carcinoma in situ and…
Read this storyStage IV Inflammatory Breast Cancer: Caroline’s Patient Story
Caroline McGuirk first noticed that her right breast felt tighter in September 2020. Over the following weeks, she developed swelling, redness, and dimpling, and later felt masses behind the nipple. Because she was 31 and otherwise healthy, breast cancer had…
Read this storyStage IV Breast Cancer: Marie-Pierre’s Patient Story
Marie-Pierre Bertrand was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer when she was barely 50. Before the diagnosis, she had strong fatigue and struggled to get through normal activities. A lymph node was found in 2014, and a mammogram led to the discovery of…
Read this storyHR-Positive Invasive Lobular Carcinoma: Suzanne’s Patient Story
Suzanne was 57 when she found a small lump in her left breast in March 2021. She noticed it while checking soreness she associated with strength training. Mammography and ultrasound were followed by a fine-needle aspiration, and she was told the sampled cells…
Read this storyStage I Invasive Lobular Carcinoma: Virgie’s Patient Story
Virgie Shaw was 75 when she finally sought care for a left-breast mass she had noticed 15 months earlier. A retired licensed practical nurse, she had delayed evaluation during the COVID-19 pandemic even as the mass grew larger and painful. In April 2021…
Read this storyStage II Breast Cancer: Nelly’s Patient Story
Nelly, from Colombia, noticed movable breast lumps and pain before being diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer. She initially felt optimistic and courageous, but deciding on treatment also brought anger, anxiety, fear, and discouragement. Her doctors…
Read this storyStage III Breast Cancer: Sylvia’s Survivor Story
Sylvia found a breast lump during a self-examination in the shower and underwent several tests before being diagnosed with Stage III breast cancer in November 2022. Having previously lost her mother to lung cancer, Sylvia found the diagnosis devastating and…
Read this storyStage III Breast Cancer: Carlie’s Patient Story
Carlie, 51, was diagnosed with Stage IIIB breast cancer after about 6 months of symptoms in her right breast, including an itchy nipple, sharp searing pain, fatigue, and a feeling that something was off. At first she was told the cancer looked like Stage IIB…
Read this storyStage III Breast Cancer: Edith’s Patient Story
Edith noticed rapid changes in the size and shape of her left breast, followed by a new lump. She was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer. The diagnosis left her feeling powerless, vulnerable, and guilty that she had not recognized the symptoms earlier, but…
Read this storyStage I Invasive Ductal Carcinoma: Paisley’s Patient Story
Paisley was attending an appointment for an unrelated neck problem when a doctor felt a lump about 4 cm above her left nipple. She had undergone mammography 3 months earlier, but dense breast tissue had obscured the tumor. Ultrasound followed by biopsy…
Read this story