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Susan's Story

Susan in sunglasses at the beach

Name: Susan
State: Massachusetts
Date of Diagnosis: January, 2009
Age at Diagnosis: 44
Stage of Diagnosis: Stage II
Time from "normal" mammogram to Stage 2 diagnosis: four months
How was cancer detected: By me

I was a healthy 44 year old woman, who exercised and ate healthy and only had an occasional drink monthly. I also had yearly mammograms since age 38, because my sister (who is 3 years older than me) had breast cancer at the age of 41. I had a false sense of security thinking that my physician was doing a good job watching over my care as I was never informed that I had dense breast tissue. I had a family history which should have alerted my doctors and radiologist to investigate further. "It is not the medical standard in Massachusetts is the answer I was given" when I ask why I wasn't offered an ultrasound or breast MRI. I had my last mammogram in Sept. 2008 and I found a 2.5 cm (one inch) tumor the following January. I had a double mastectomy in May of 2009 and went through chemotherapy. Unfortunately, because of the size of the tumor and the fact that my cancer was invasive, I have a 20 percent chance of having a recurrence to lung, liver or bone cancer within the next 5-10 years - none of which is curable. I am actively working to get a breast density inform bill, that is law in Connecticut, passed in MA. Hopefully I will be successful and can prevent this from happening to other young women!

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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.