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Sandy's Story

Sandy and her sister Carol outside a brick house

Name: Sandy, in honor and memory of her sister, Carol.
State: Maryland
Date of Diagnosis: 2005
Age at Diagnosis: 53
Stage of Diagnosis: 4
Time from "normal" mammogram to diagnosis: "Normal" mammograms for years - and a recent "normal" report within months of her Stage 4 diagnosis
How was cancer detected?: By physician

Carol's story as told by her sister Sandy

My sister Carol had dense breasts. Although mammograms were ordered every six months by her surgeon, who had removed breast cysts in the past, he recommended no follow-up and said "everything is fine" when in fact the radiology reports indicated everything was perhaps not fine - because of her dense breast tissue.

My sister never saw those reports and relied on her doctor's advice. Finally, he detected a thickening, but advised her to return in 3 months. When she did, cancer was quickly diagnosed and it had spread throughout her lymph node system - she had stage 4 breast cancer. Her breast cancer took her life 7 years later, in June 2012.

Recently, I learned by chance that I too have dense breasts. I had always assumed I would be told! I found this out after ordering a copy of my mammogram report to submit to a clinical study. Even 8 long years after my sister's diagnosis, I never knew to ask whether I too had dense breasts - now I'm telling EVERYONE to ask about their breast tissue composition - it is a matter of life!

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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.