Home Stories Marci's Story

Marci's Story

Name: Marci
State: California
Date of Diagnosis: July, 2007
Age at Diagnosis: 51
Stage of Diagnosis: Stage IIIB
Time from "normal" mammogram to Stage 3 diagnosis: 3 months
How was cancer detected: By me

I was feeling extremely exhausted for about 6 months. In April 2007, I went in for a routine pap/mammography exam which I had been doing since 2000. Mammography report came back "normal". In July 2007, I was in the shower and felt a lump on outer side of my right breast. I called my doctor and was told to come in right away for an ultrasound. The ultrasound uncovered the 1 inch lump that I felt - which the mammogram had missed three months prior. The biopsy determined cancer and I was schedelded for a lumpectomy or mastectomy. My doctor did not think it could have spread to my lymph nodes. I told her that I wanted a mastectomy and for her to remove all lymph nodes if anything looked unusual. Again, she said she did not think it could have spread to the nodes but agreed with the mastectomy. I woke up from the surgery to be told that 13 lymph nodes were removed. When the pathlogy report came back, 8 of 13 lymph nodes were cancerous and my cancer was HER2-positive. My treatment consisted of chemotherapy, radiation and herceptin for one year. I continue to have mammograms and just this year I received, for the first time, a copy of my report which stated that I have very dense breasts. No wonder the mammogram did not see the tumor! I now insist on an ultrasound or mri. I am so glad I found this site. The word needs to be out that mammograms are limited in finding cancer in women with dense breast tissue. If you are told you have dense breasts you must insist on ultrasound or MRI. I know that will be routine for me from now on.

Back to Stories

Learn More

Nancy's Story

A Tale of Two Cancers

Donate

Contact

AYD In The News

What is Dense Breast Tissue?

How Do I Know if I Have Dense Breast Tissue?

What Do I Do if I Have Dense Breast Tissue?

Are You Dense? Fact #1:
Breast density is one of the strongest predictors of the failure of mammography screening to detect cancer.
Are You Dense? Fact #2:
Two-thirds of pre-menopausal women and 40% of post-menopausal women have dense breast tissue.
Are You Dense? Fact #3:
Adding more sensitive tests to mammography significantly increase detection of invasive cancers that are small and node negative.
Are You Dense? Fact #4:
American College of Radiology describes women with "Dense Breast Tissue" as having a higher than average risk of Breast Cancer.
Are You Dense? Fact #5:
While a mammogram detects 98% of cancers in women with fatty breasts, it finds only 48% in women with dense breasts.
Are You Dense? Fact #6:
A woman at average risk and a woman at high risk have an EQUAL chance of having their cancer masked by mammogram.
Are You Dense? Fact #7:
Women with dense breasts who had breast cancer have a four times higher risk of recurrence than women with less-dense breasts.
Are You Dense? Fact #8:
A substantial proportion of Breast Cancer can be attributed to high breast density alone.
Are You Dense? Fact #9:
Cancer turns up five times more often in women with extremely dense breasts than those with the most fatty tissue.
Are You Dense? Fact #10
There are too many women who are unaware of their breast density, believe their “Happy Gram” when it reports no significant findings and are at risk of receiving a later stage cancer diagnosis.