I’ve decided to start this topic off as I’ve had so many people comment that I’m too young to have had breast cancer (having been diagnosed in my early 30s) or rather are surprised that I was diagnosed at such a young age as after all isn’t it a disease of older women?
The answer seems to be a resounding NO! I keep hearing about women being diagnosed at a younger and younger age - how can this be coincidence? How come I know so many young women who have been diagnosed?
A close relation was diagnosed at the age of 40 and then re-diagnosed just as I was finishing my treatment. A very close friend’s sister in law was diagnosed 4 months after me, another friend has just been diagnosed, another friend’s sister was diagnosed about 4 months ago and I also know of probably around 6 other women who’ve been diagnosed in their 20s and 30s before, during and after my treatment. Judging by the Breast Cancer Care website there are plenty of us.
I don’t know if anybody has done this before but I’d like to try and find out just how many of us were in our 20s, 30s and 40s when diagnosed and try and force the medical profession to take note of this so that young women are not dismissed by their GPs when they go along having found a lump or something that doesn’t feel right hence a late diagnosis. Also we need to increase awareness of breast cancer and the fact it can and does affect young women as well as older women.
For now, all I’d like to know is how old you were at diagnosis?
This is a good idea as i thought the same that it was something to look out for when i was at least 45 and over even though my mum and aunt had breast cancer. The doctors said we had to be careful over that age.
Hi Ruby I was 45,my doctor said she would only refer me as non urgent as it didn’t present as breast cancer (what ever that means)so I ended up paying for private mammogram and biopsy.My mum also had breast cancer at the age of 44.
My Mum was diagnosed at the age of 70 and we were both out of the age in which we would have been offered screening! (My Mum was only offered screening as she had had missed her one from the year before.)
When I was having treatment I think that as many people I saw were a similar age to me than older (although I suppose that could be due to most younger people being offered chemo and older people often not!)
I was 44. Went to GP last June as I felt a “thickening” which didn’t go away.
It was all very vague and I expected he was going to tell me it was just some more fibrous tissue, thickening as I aged - my breasts were always on the dense and lumpy side ! I felt no pain at all but obviously it had been sneakily growing for a long time.
Vicky was 29 at diagnosis but already had multiple secondaries, so probably 27/8 when the cancer first started. Took a lot of coaxing before she was even referred to the breast clinic.
I was 43 at diagnosis… of the 12 Mums that took our children to the same toddler group I know that 2 others have also being diagnosed in their early 40’s…
I was 34 at diagnosis,in January this year.I’m 35 now.My mum was in her early sixties.Hers was picked up by mammogram,so was very small(less than 1 cm) and grade 1.I found mine ,as it was a sizeable lump-6 cm,grade 3,2 lymph nodes affected.I had been due to start having mammograms at 35 ,as a few of my mums aunts and cousins have also had BC.If I’d had a mammogram /scan earlier it may have picked it up much earlier,and resulted in me having a better prognosis,and not such aggressive treatment.My mum had Lumpectomy and rads and has been told they are very hopeful it won’t return.I had mast.chemo,about to have rads .Despite this my younger sisters have been told they still have to wait until 35 .My cousin(who’s in her twenties) now pays to have scans done privately.
hi ruby, great idea for a thread.Happy to help in any way i can. Have you seen the koppa feel website? they try to raise awareness for younger women after one of the founders was dx with bc in her early twenties.
I was dx 3 weeks after my 36th birthday, grade 3, 17mm cancer, no evidence of spread. No family history. My friend is an oncologist and organised me an apointment at local breast clinic within a week of finding the lump so my gp had no option other than to do the referral letter. I know other ladies struggle more than that.
I did a thread about how young ladies found their lumps as mine was thru self exam and am concerned its not being highlighted as a risk sufficiently. I dont understand why its not mentioned at smear tests when the docs have us sitting there in front of them, and also that there seems a link with pregnancy/recent birth so health professionals should surely be aware of that too? I will bump up that thread for you as its interesting reading.