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Collin's Story

Collin smiling with three young children

Name: Collin
Date of Diagnosis: August, 2009
Age at Diagnosis: 50
Stage: IIB/III
Time from "normal" mammogram to cancer diagnosis: One week
How was cancer detected?: By me

I had dense breasts, but no one ever told me I should be getting MRIs. I had mammograms religiously that were always clean, including the week of my diagnosis. I knew something wasn't right and insisted on an MRI; actually got in an unpleasant phone call with the doctor's nurse who insisted I didn't need it, that the doctor said I was "not in that realm," and that the insurance company would not pay for my MRI. I said I will pay for the MRI. Hemming & hawing, she scheduled one. There it was. Her2-positivebreast cancer -- went into the nodes but thank God nowhere else. No lump visible or palpable by myself or doctors -- only on the MRI. If only someone had told me that I should have had an MRI all along so it could have been caught earlier. I have 3 adopted children, ages 8, 6 and 4. Our last adoption took place in February. I know I will make it, despite the 80% prognosis, but it pains me so that my children have to see this occur. It was all so preventable.

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Are You Dense? Fact #1: Breast density is one of the strongest predictors of the failure of mammography screening to detect cancer.

Are You Dense? Fact #2: Two-thirds of pre-menopausal women and 40% of post-menopausal women have dense breast tissue.

Are You Dense? Fact #3: Adding more sensitive tests to mammography significantly increase detection of invasive cancers that are small and node negative.

Are You Dense? Fact #4: American College of Radiology describes women with "Dense Breast Tissue" as having a higher than average risk of Breast Cancer.

Are You Dense? Fact #5: While a mammogram detects 98% of cancers in women with fatty breasts, it finds only 48% in women with dense breasts.

Are You Dense? Fact #6: A woman at average risk and a woman at high risk have an EQUAL chance of having their cancer masked by mammogram.

Are You Dense? Fact #7: Women with dense breasts who had breast cancer have a four times higher risk of recurrence than women with less-dense breasts.

Are You Dense? Fact #8: A substantial proportion of Breast Cancer can be attributed to high breast density alone.

Are You Dense? Fact #9: Cancer turns up five times more often in women with extremely dense breasts than those with the most fatty tissue.

Are You Dense? Fact #10: There are too many women who are unaware of their breast density, believe their “Happy Gram” when it reports no significant findings and are at risk of receiving a later stage cancer diagnosis.