mastectomy: 360 Real Stories
360 stories match mastectomy. 342 of them mention surgery.
Breast Cancer: Naomi’s Patient Story
Naomi was diagnosed with breast cancer in March 2024 while raising two children, ages six and eight. Chemotherapy caused rapid hair and weight loss, and she wore a wig because her children were frightened by how ill she looked. A mastectomy brought both…
Read this storyStage IV HR-Positive Invasive Lobular Carcinoma: Ann’s Patient Story
Ann was diagnosed in February 2017 with two large ER-positive, HER2-negative invasive lobular cancers in her right breast. The tumors had not been felt and had not appeared on mammograms, and cancer was found in 17 lymph nodes. She underwent right mastectomy…
Read this storyHR-Positive Breast Cancer: Jenna’s Patient Story
Jenna was 34 and pregnant when she found a breast lump that she initially thought was a clogged milk duct. Ultrasound and an urgent biopsy confirmed breast cancer with spread to lymph nodes. A second opinion agreed that treatment needed to begin quickly…
Read this storyStage IV HR-Positive Invasive Lobular Carcinoma: Amy’s Patient Story
Amy was 48 when she noticed that her left nipple had become inverted. She had also been unusually tired, had sore breasts, and was experiencing severe back pain, but the nipple change was what prompted her to seek care. Her first mammogram was followed by…
Read this storyStage IV HER2-Positive Invasive Ductal Carcinoma: Goodie16’s Survivor Story
Goodie16 found a lump in the left breast in April 2014. Mammography did not show the lump, but ultrasound and biopsy confirmed invasive ductal carcinoma. They underwent mastectomy, and the lymph nodes were clear. The cancer was staged as IA, the Oncotype DX…
Read this storyStage IV HER2-Positive Breast Cancer: Leftfootforward’s Survivor Story
Leftfootforward was 37 when she was diagnosed with Stage IIB breast cancer in December 2010. Her treatment began with A/C chemotherapy and then Herceptin. She had a bilateral mastectomy, followed by 36 rounds of radiation. Herceptin continued for about 8…
Read this storyBreast Cancer: Carol’s Survivor Story
Carol had only just turned 30 when she found out she had breast cancer. She wanted to have a baby, so one of her first fears was that cancer treatment might take away that possibility. Even with that worry, she knew treatment had to come first. Carol was…
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 storyStage 0 bilateral non-invasive breast cancer treated with bilateral mastectomy
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 storyBRCA Breast Cancer: Susana’s Survivor Story
Susana, a preschool teacher, noticed a hollow or indentation in the lower part of her breast. Cancer was already familiar in her family, and she knew she carried a BRCA gene mutation. The diagnosis led to removal of both breasts. Surgery was difficult: the…
Read this storyStage IV HER2-Positive Breast Cancer: Regina’s Patient Story
Regina Ritter was 51 at the time of her interview and a mother of 4. Her breast cancer began in May 2008, when she was 47 and felt something painful and very large in her right breast. Further examinations found a tumor, and CT also showed a liver metastasis…
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 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 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 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: Iris’s Survivor Story
Iris Ludwig was 30 when breast cancer was diagnosed in 2001. Because she worked in a medical field, she already knew what many cancer treatments could involve, yet the diagnosis still left her feeling unable to react. Chemotherapy began before…
Read this storyBreast Cancer: Eva’s Patient Story
Eva Manz was 39 and living with her partner when she looked back on 2 breast cancer diagnoses. She was first diagnosed at 31. At that time, her left breast was removed and reconstructed at the same operation. The loss of the breast affected her deeply, even…
Read this storyBRCA1 Breast Cancer: Julia’s Patient Story
Julia Bring was 28 when she described breast cancer that began just 2 months after her wedding. She and her husband had been planning for a child when mammography and biopsy led to the diagnosis in August 2010. Because she was only 25, her doctors…
Read this storyTriple-Negative Breast Cancer: Doris’s Survivor Story
Doris Teller was 58, divorced, and living on her own when she described treatment for triple-negative breast cancer. Her mammogram had been normal, but about 3 months later she felt a hard area in her breast. When the lump grew, her gynecologist ordered a…
Read this storyBreast Cancer: Claudia’s Survivor Story
Claudia Kressmann was 51 when she reflected on breast cancer diagnosed at 35, while her 3 children were still young. She had felt a lump herself, and because of her age there was first hope that it would be something less serious. The diagnosis was breast…
Read this storyBreast Cancer: Waltraud’s Survivor Story
Waltraud Amann was a single mother of a 15-year-old son when breast cancer was diagnosed in 1995. She had felt a lump in her right breast and immediately suspected something malignant. Her gynecologist confirmed the concern, and Waltraud went into the…
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 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…
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