Our Stories

Two months after a "normal" mammogram, Patty had a mastectomy!

Name:  Patty Barry

Date of Diagnosis:  February, 2008

Age at Diagnosis:  53

Stage: 2

Time from 'normal" mammogram to cancer diagnosis:  2 months

How was cancer detected:  By me

Patty's Story:  I had my annual mammogram in Boston on December 13, 2007 and was in the hospital 8 weeks later having a mastectomy. I had been sent home from my mammogram with "see you next year Mrs. Barry! Everything looks great!" Six weeks later my breast was bleeding and I had surgery a week later in St. Francis Hospital in Hartford, CT. I had heard I had dense tissue but never thought anything of it as long as my tests were ok. We had lived in the Boston area for many years and I went to "the best breast hospital in New England" for my tests even after moving to CT four years ago.  After meeting with a surgeon at St. Francis in Hartford she sent me for another mammogram and an ultrasound where 3 tumors were found.  I have just finished 4 months of chemotherapy and radiation was completed last week. God bless you for starting this organization. I wrote a short article for the Newtown Bee newspaper about mammograms not being enough protection to find cancer.