Surgery for Breast Cancer: 559 Real Stories
559 stories match breast cancer and surgery. 392 of them mention chemotherapy.
Breast 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 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 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 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…
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 storyBreast Cancer: Belén’s Survivor Story
Belén’s breast cancer experience began in summer 2007, when she moved from knowing the oncology clinic as a Roche employee to entering it as a patient. Because she already knew oncologists and understood breast cancer information, she could ask questions and…
Read this storyBreast Cancer: Marta’s Survivor Story
Marta was 38 in 2009 when a routine checkup found a breast tumor. She had recently returned to Spain after working in Poland, and surgery confirmed the tumor was malignant. What followed was a long and frightening 5-year path that included chemotherapy…
Read this storyBreast Cancer: Susanne’s Survivor Story
Susanne Ricke was 61 when breast cancer was found during routine mammography screening in 2022. She had kept up with screening because breast cancer had affected both her mother and sister, and because she had already gone through treatment for a malignant…
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: 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: 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 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 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 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 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…
Read this storyBreast Cancer: Danièle’s Survivor Story
Danièle’s breast cancer was diagnosed quickly after a bra underwire left a mark and her gynecologist sent her for imaging. On February 4, 2016, ultrasound and biopsy raised immediate concern, and by February 11 she was told it was breast cancer that was…
Read this storyBreast Cancer: Annette’s Survivor Story
Annette Huber was 48 when she reflected on breast cancer that began years earlier with a lump in her right breast. At first, the path to diagnosis felt long and frustrating. She repeatedly sensed that something was wrong, but felt that her concerns were not…
Read this storyStage I Breast Cancer: Iris’s Survivor Story
Iris was in her 50s when she was diagnosed with 100% hormone-dependent breast cancer in February 2021. Because her mother had died of ovarian cancer and her aunt had breast cancer, Iris had already taken prevention seriously. Genetic testing at 43 had been…
Read this storyBreast Cancer: Klaus’s Patient Story
Klaus Deckmann was 66 and newly retired when breast cancer was diagnosed in early 2020. He had felt repeated pressure in his breast, and because his mother had died of breast cancer, he pushed himself to see his family doctor. Ultrasound, mammography, biopsy…
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…
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