mastectomy: 360 Real Stories
360 stories match mastectomy. 342 of them mention surgery.
Stage 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 storyBreast Cancer: Mary’s Patient Story
Mary sought help after experiencing dizziness and finding a rapidly growing mass in her left breast. The diagnosis left her feeling vulnerable, isolated, empty, and powerless. A cancer support organization discussed a 90% five-year survival estimate with her…
Read this storyStage 0 Breast Cancer: Moira’s Survivor Story
Moira, from New Zealand, had stage 0 breast cancer found through routine mammography in 2022. She had no symptoms, and the diagnosis surprised her because it was her second breast-cancer diagnosis, about 10 years after the first. Despite the shock, she felt…
Read this storyStage III Breast Cancer: Mujer’s Patient Story
Mujer Valiente, a mother of two from Colombia, was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer after fatigue and pain in her toenails and back led to repeated medical consultations. When she was initially told nothing was wrong, she arranged a mammogram and saw a…
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: 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: Ada’s Survivor Story
Ada was 50 when she faced stage 3 breast cancer after noticing breast lumps and pain in her armpits. The diagnosis brought feelings of helplessness, insecurity, grief and fear, but she chose to follow a broad treatment plan. Her care included a mastectomy…
Read this storyStage III Breast Cancer: Carmen’s Survivor Story
Carmen, 56, is from Colombia, works in bacteriology, and has 1 child. She went to the doctor after a mass in her right breast began to grow and change the shape of the breast. She also noticed redness, swelling, nipple itching, and throbbing pain. She was…
Read this storyStage III Breast Cancer: Karol’s Patient Story
Karol found a breast lump about one or two years before sharing her story. She also noticed breast enlargement and redness and was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer. Because the insurance system was moving too slowly to provide an appointment, she sought a…
Read this storyStage II Breast Cancer: Cristina’s Patient Story
Cristina, 45, is a mother from Colombia who was diagnosed with Stage II breast cancer after noticing subtle dimpling in the areola of her left breast. She initially paid little attention to the change because it was small and painless. A painful, swollen…
Read this storyStage III Breast Cancer: Antonia’s Survivor Story
Antonia was 39 and raising 2 children when she noticed a protruding mass in her breast, along with irritation and swelling. She was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer. The news left her frightened, confused and overwhelmed, with a strong sense of…
Read this storyStage III Breast Cancer: Katie’s Survivor Story
Katie Robb Sewall was 27 when a double mastectomy in 2014 changed what she thought was stage 0 breast cancer into a Stage III diagnosis. Pathology showed the cancer had spread from the breast ducts into lymph nodes. Katie and her husband, Craig, had to move…
Read this storyBRCA Breast Cancer: Christie’s Patient Story
Christie Siebel learned through genetic testing that she carried a BRCA mutation after breast cancer had affected other members of her family. At age 30, shortly after the birth of her daughter, she noticed a breast lump while breastfeeding. A biopsy showed…
Read this storyTriple-Negative Breast Cancer: Sandra’s Survivor Story
Sandra Monsonís was 43 and had not had a medical checkup for more than 5 years when a friend encouraged her to see a gynecologist. She had some breast discomfort but did not feel a clear lump. That visit found a lump that became a triple-negative breast…
Read this storyBreast Cancer: Theresa’s Patient Story
Theresa Reynolds was 85 when she learned she had breast cancer and needed a mastectomy. Her first instinct was to avoid treatment. Her mother had also had breast cancer, and Theresa remembered what that experience looked like. She worried about putting…
Read this storyStage I Invasive Ductal Carcinoma: Kim’s Survivor Story
Kim Brisky had worked at Cleveland Clinic Martin Health for 24 years, but being a nurse did not prepare her emotionally for her own Stage I breast cancer diagnosis. After a diagnostic mammogram, ultrasound and biopsy, she learned she had ductal carcinoma that…
Read this storyBRCA1 Breast Cancer: Muriel’s Survivor Story
Muriel Verger was diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer in 2015, when she was 33 and close to turning 34. She also reported a BRCA1 abnormality. Because the tumor was not large, her surgical treatment was a tumorectomy, also understood as…
Read this storyStage I HER2-Positive Invasive Ductal Carcinoma: Tammy’s Patient Story
Tammy was first diagnosed with Stage 0 DCIS, or ductal carcinoma in situ. After surgery, her pathology report found a second tumor: Stage I invasive ductal carcinoma. She had already undergone a double mastectomy and was waiting for one final test result when…
Read this storyInvasive Lobular Carcinoma: Maureen’s Patient Story
Maureen is an entomologist who spent her career on university campuses and now lives in Georgia. At the beginning of the COVID epidemic in 2020, she was diagnosed by biopsy with pleomorphic invasive lobular carcinoma. Hospitals were limiting access to…
Read this storyStage III HR-Positive Invasive Lobular Carcinoma: Jeanine’s Patient Story
Jeanine had annual mammograms for 10 years because of a family history of breast cancer. In 2016, after years of watching microcalcifications, she noticed that a cyst-like area in her right breast would not go away and that the same breast had slight…
Read this storyInvasive Lobular Carcinoma: Susie’s’s Patient Story
Susie became involved with the Lobular Breast Cancer Alliance after her daughter was diagnosed with invasive lobular carcinoma. Her daughter was 42 and living in California when doctors found an 8 cm ILC in the left breast. Her mammogram had been clear the…
Read this storyInvasive Lobular Carcinoma: Hillary’s Survivor Story
Hillary Robinson was 52 when a routine medical exam found something abnormal in her right breast. She had been busy with family, community work and her family’s manufacturing business, and she had put off yearly mammograms. An ultrasound and mammogram showed…
Read this storyBreast Cancer: Linda’s Patient Story
Linda Stokes was diagnosed with breast cancer in April 2015. Genetic testing then found a germline CDH1 mutation, which also placed her at high hereditary risk for diffuse gastric cancer. In June 2015, Linda chose bilateral mastectomy rather than the…
Read this storyBreast Cancer: Maria’s Patient Story
Maria’s doctors initially planned mastectomy, lymphadenectomy, and chemotherapy for her breast cancer. During the mastectomy, they found that cancer had reached lymph nodes, and the treatment plan had to change. Radiation therapy was later added. Treatment…
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