The first October I became hyper-aware of breast cancer was in 2004, when my mother, at 44 years old, discovered that the lump she found in her breast a month earlier was malignant.
Even though my maternal grandmother, my maternal great-grandmother and my mother’s paternal grandmother had all had breast cancer, I couldn’t imagine my mother having cancer so young.
One of my family’s worst fears became a reality when my mom was diagnosed; it was the scariest time of my life.
Because of my family history, I am at high risk for breast cancer. I think about it every day, and am constantly afraid for my future. From the day my mother told me her biopsy revealed a malignant growth, I have been obsessed with researching breast cancer, treatment and learning what my options are.
Women who have a family history of breast or ovarian cancer are at high risk. Ovarian cancer is included in this equation because both ovarian and breast cancer have hormonal components. Though my great-grandmothers’ and my grandmother’s cancers were not hormonally driven, my mother’s breast cancer was classified as invasive and estrogen and progesterone positive.
Estrogen and progesterone are common hormones used in hormone replacement therapy and are also found in most birth-control pills. Many young women today are on the birth control pill, ingesting these hormones daily. According to American Cancer Society, research done by Scandinavian scientists in the 1990s has proven that women who continually use birth-control pills for more than seven years have a higher risk of having invasive breast cancer.
Cal State Long Beach celebrated Pink October last week to inform students about breast cancer, with a speaker’s panel, breast cancer prevention workshops and outreach events in Maxson Plaza.
I attended the breast cancer prevention workshop on Thursday afternoon and was shocked that I was the only person to attend. I don’t understand why women and students would not want to learn about breast cancer, especially because young women between the ages of 15 and 54 have the highest risk of death from breast cancer.
According to the California Cancer Registry, it is estimated that 4,165 California women will die of breast cancer this year alone.
There are ways to help prevent breast cancer, including the obvious: exercising, eating a low fat and high fiber diet and limiting alcohol consumption. Breast self-exams are important in raising personal awareness of breast cancer. According to the ACS, women should be familiar with their breasts so that they will notice any changes and report them to a doctor immediately.
Breast self-exams should be done monthly, starting when a woman is 20 years old. The best time of the month to perform a self-exam is the week after your period because the breasts are less likely to be tender and lumpy.
The ACS has recently changed the breast self-exam process because some women are not doing it correctly and effectively. It is now not necessary to perform the exam in the shower. The best way to detect an abnormality is when you are lying flat, allowing for the breast tissue to spread out.
The most common area of the breast tissue for women to find cancer is the upper-left quadrant, below the collar bone. This is the same area where my mother found her malignant lump.
If you and your doctor conclude that you are a high-risk candidate for breast cancer, you should consider the benefits and limitations of getting mammograms earlier than age 40.
I will be starting mammography screenings at age 30, due to my risk. High-risk women also have the option to enroll in a clinical prevention trial offered by City of Hope Medical Center.
Participants in clinical trials are given access to the latest drugs and procedural treatments before they are widely available. Most of these studies are for post-menopausal women, but there are some available for younger candidates.
Tiffany Rider is a junior journalism major and a contributing writer for the Daily Forty-Niner.
