Our Stories

Deborah's mammography report stated that there were no findings of cancer yet her gynecologist recommended an ultrasound because she has dense breast tissue and an early stage 1 cancer was found!

Name:  Deborah Russolillo

Date of Diagnosis:  June 30, 2009

Age at Diagnosis: 42

Stage: 1

Time from "normal" mammogram to cancer diagnosis: One week

How was cancer detected: Ultrasound 

Deborah's story:  My name is Deborah Russolillo.  I am 42 and I was diagnosed on June 30, 2009, with breast cancer. I am one of the lucky women whose gynecologist, Dr. John Lewis, automatically schedules me for an ultrasound due to dense breast tissue. If he hadn't done this I would not know today that I have cancer.  My yearly mammogram on June 22th, was "normal" yet the ultrasound that same day picked up something of concern.  I had a needle core biopsy on the 25th and by June 30th I was told I had breast cancer.  The letter I received from the radiology facility said, everything was good - see you next year. Without ultrasound technology I would not even know today that I have cancer.  I was one of the lucky ones that caught mine early. I went through a double mastectomy in July and now will endure 4 rounds of chemotherapy.  If it weren't for the ultrasound my diagnosis and prognosis could have been much worse. I can't thank Dr. Lewis enough for being so proactive and to Dr. Nancy Cappello and the CT legislature for working so hard to get legislation passed and information to the public about dense breast tissue so that other women too can have breast cancer detected at its earliest stage.