Hormone Therapy: 278 Real Stories
278 stories match hormone therapy. 238 of them mention surgery.
Stage IV BRCA Breast Cancer: Dena’s Patient Story
Dena Ofengeim was 28 in December 2021 when worsening back pain and leg weakness sent her to the emergency room. Imaging found a mass pressing on the nerves of her spine. Surgery removed the mass, and a biopsy showed that it was breast cancer that had spread…
Read this storyInvasive Lobular Carcinoma: Sally’s Survivor Story
In 2013, Sally Johnston was diagnosed with lobular breast cancer after her primary care provider found a lump near her clavicle. A biopsy confirmed breast cancer involving lymph nodes. The cancer was estrogen receptor-positive. Sally began treatment with an…
Read this storyStage III Breast Cancer: Gail’s Patient Story
Gail, 65, is a mother of 2 from the United Kingdom who works in administration. In August 2024, she was diagnosed with Stage III luminal A breast cancer after feeling a lump in her breast that did not go away after a few weeks. She was surprised by the…
Read this storyStage II Breast Cancer: Paula’s Patient Story
Paula found a strange lump in her right breast and was diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer. She had no other symptoms. The diagnosis was shocking and left her confused, worried, surprised, and vulnerable, although her doctor’s guidance also gave her some…
Read this storyInvasive Lobular Carcinoma: Brenda’s Survivor Story
Brenda first found a breast lump in 2017, when she was in her early 40s. She was told it was a cyst, while an area of calcification seen on mammography was monitored every 6 months for the next 5 years. During a mammogram in May 2022, the area believed to be…
Read this storyInvasive Lobular Carcinoma: Leigh’s Patient Story
Leigh was diagnosed with invasive lobular carcinoma in 2011. She was shocked to learn that the cancer could be difficult to see on mammograms and biologically different from the more common ductal subtype, yet did not have a separate treatment approach. With…
Read this storyStage III Triple-Negative Breast Cancer: Kelly’s Survivor Story
Kelly Thomas was 33 when she felt a lump in her left breast. She had no breast cancer history in her family and had checked her breasts regularly, so the finding was frightening. Imaging and biopsy confirmed breast cancer, and her breast surgeon told her…
Read this storyTriple-Negative Breast Cancer: Susan’s Patient Story
Susan was 72 when she shared a long history with breast cancer. Her first diagnosis began in 2000, when her husband, a physician, felt a small hard lump in her left breast. A fine needle aspiration missed the cancer 3 times, but surgical removal showed the…
Read this storyStage II HR-Positive Invasive Lobular Carcinoma: Megan’s Survivor Story
Megan-Claire Chase was diagnosed with Stage II invasive lobular breast cancer after symptoms such as green bruises, brittle hair, sudden weight gain, and a left-breast mass. Her doctors later believed the cancer may have been growing for 8 to 10 years and had…
Read this storyInvasive Lobular Carcinoma: Stephanie’s Survivor Story
Stephanie was 50 when she found a lump in her right breast on July 2, 2018. Mammogram and ultrasound confirmed the lump, and it was removed in early August. The lump itself was benign, but the pathology also found lobular carcinoma in situ, which raised her…
Read this storyStage III Inflammatory Breast Cancer: Nikki’s Patient Story
Nikki, a 47-year-old mother and teacher, had already survived a rare cancer before her breast cancer diagnosis. In 2016, while breastfeeding her long-awaited son, a doctor reviewed years of bowel and IBS-like complaints and investigated further. That workup…
Read this storyStage III HER2-Positive Inflammatory Breast Cancer: Nikki’s Patient Story
Nikki first noticed sharp pain around her right nipple in August 2022. Because there was no lump and she had been told that cancer usually did not hurt, she attributed it to menopause. By late November, her nipple had become completely inverted. A biopsy and…
Read this storyInvasive Lobular Carcinoma: Lucinda’s Patient Story
Lucinda Rudolph was 68 when an annual breast cancer screening in April 2020 led to a frightening local assessment. She had been treated for breast cancer 10 years earlier with lumpectomy and radiation, and this new cancer was initially described as…
Read this storyStage III Invasive Lobular Carcinoma: Neda’s Survivor Story
Neda was 48 and living in Seattle when her breast cancer journey began. In April 2020, she felt a large lump in her left breast. Mammography and ultrasound did not show cancer, and she received a letter noting dense breast tissue and recommending another…
Read this storyStage III Breast Cancer: Sarah’s Patient Story
Sarah McDonald was 44 and pursuing fertility treatment with her husband when she received 2 unrelated cancer diagnoses within 2 months. The first was incurable salivary gland cancer, found after she noticed a lump in the floor of her mouth after a deep teeth…
Read this storyStage III HR-Positive Breast Cancer: Sarah’s Survivor Story
Sarah McDonald was 44 when she was diagnosed with 2 unrelated cancers within 2 months. Surgery for a rare salivary gland cancer prompted her to re-examine a breast lump first noticed 6 years earlier. Annual mammograms had not shown a clear problem because she…
Read this storyStage IV HR-Positive Breast Cancer: Abigail’s Patient Story
Abigail Myers was diagnosed with breast cancer in March 2014, just over a year after the birth of her son. Testing showed triple-positive disease, with estrogen, progesterone, and HER2 receptors. Her initial treatment included a double mastectomy, radiation…
Read this storyStage II Breast Cancer: Renée’s Patient Story
Renée first had cancer at 18, when she was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia. Treatment had to move too quickly for fertility preservation, and she was told it would likely cause infertility. She received intensive chemotherapy, total-body radiation, and…
Read this storyStage I Invasive Lobular Carcinoma: Carol’s Survivor Story
Carol was 70 when she was diagnosed with invasive lobular breast cancer in July 2022. The cancer was stage 1A and was found early, but the tumor itself could not be felt and was not visible on the mammogram. Calcifications in the same area helped draw…
Read this storyStage I Breast Cancer: Catriona’s Survivor Story
Catriona was 62 when bleeding from her nipple led to a stage 1 breast cancer diagnosis in July 2023. She had not expected cancer and was surprised by the news. The experience prompted her to reassess her priorities and how she wanted to use her time…
Read this storyStage III Breast Cancer: Jodi’s Patient Story
Jodi found a lump in her breast and was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer in September 2023. The news left her feeling empty and vulnerable, especially because she had already lost her mother to cancer, but she also felt determined. Jodi underwent a…
Read this storyStage I Breast Cancer: Transito’s Survivor Story
Transito was diagnosed with Stage I breast cancer after seeking medical evaluation because her sister had cancer. She had not noticed symptoms beforehand. The diagnosis brought fear, sadness, nervousness, worry, isolation, and loneliness. Her doctors…
Read this storyHR-Positive Invasive Ductal Carcinoma: Annette’s Patient Story
Annette La Fontaine was diagnosed with ductal breast cancer in 2021 after finding a lump while showering. She had been through years of intense stress, including family illness, separation, and the pressures of COVID, and she describes reaching diagnosis…
Read this storyStage III Breast Cancer: Diana’s Patient Story
Diana, 44, is from Colombia, has 2 children, and works in accounting as a financial technologist. She was being monitored for a lump in her left breast that was first biopsied and considered benign. Two years later, the lump worsened, and she also developed…
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