“BUT I’M TOO YOUNG FOR BREAST CANCER!”

Excerpts from Fighting for Our Future

If you’re like most young women, these may have been your first words upon hearing of your diagnosis. The perception that young women can’t and don’t get breast cancer often leads to an initial misdiagnosis. The average age for a woman diagnosed with breast cancer is 64. Breast cancer is shocking at any age, but if you are under 40, it helps to realize how many women there are out there who are just like you. There are more than 250,000 women in the United States age 40 and younger diagnosed with breast cancer. Sadly, this year another 10,500 women in this age group will be diagnosed. If you’re in your thirties, your chances of getting breast cancer are 1 in 249. If you are in your twenties, the risk is 1 in 2044. It’s not surprising that doctors discount the possibility of breast cancer in young women. If you are like most young women with breast cancer, you may already have discovered a rather disheartening fact: Virtually all of the information on the disease that is readily available is geared to older women. After all, women aged 40 and under make up about 5 percent of the total number of U.S. women with breast cancer. It makes sense that doctors would be more familiar with the needs and concerns of the other 95 percent. You can understand, too, why most of the pamphlets, brochures, and books on coping with cancer assume that you’re in a decades-old marriage, that your children are grown, and that you’re at the peak of your career if not actually approaching retirement, instead of being a woman in your twenties or thirties just getting started with your life. Some of the urgent questions the young woman with breast cancer may have are:

 How do I get the emotional support I need from my friends and family?  How has breast cancer affected my sexual/dating life?  What about the effects of pregnancy on breast cancer?  How do I continue to raise my children?  How do I manage at work?  What effects will chemotherapy, radiation, and tamoxifen have on my fertility?  Will I undergo premature menopause-and if so, what can I expect?  What kinds of alternative and complementary treatments have been shown to be effective?  How can I cope with recurrence (the return of cancer) or metastasis (the spread of cancer to other parts of the body)?

In the book, Fighting for Our Future, you can find how many young women living with breast cancer have dealt with these issues. For a free copy, visit the Young Survival Coalition’s website at www.youngsurvival.org.