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Roberta's Story

Name: Roberta
State: California
Date of Diagnosis: February 25, 2010
Age at Diagnosis: 52
Stage of Diagnosis: Stage III
Time from "normal" mammogram to Stage 3 diagnosis: 6 months
How was cancer detected: By me

I had yearly mammograms and was never informed I have scattered mixed density. Many of my reports, generated from the radiologists, that were not shared with me state "dense breasts". I felt a lump and my physician said to wait a month to schedule the diagnostic mammogram and ultrasound. In two weeks the arm on the same side swelled. She said that it was a probably a spider bite. In two days I had enough and scheduled the mammogram and ultrasound. No one indicated to me how likely it was to be cancer until I got the biopsy results - Cancer! Surgery revealed 16 positive nodes and a wide area of DCIS so my margins are not entirely clear. I have started chemotherapy which will involve a year of Herceptin. I will need "clean up" surgery and radiation. I am devastated. I had to quit my new job as a science writer with Stanford. I am a trained medical journalist who has written occaisonally on cancer and knew that dense breasts meant something, but I never knew just what. Now! I do, and I vow to do something so that other women will not have to travel this road.

Update:

Roberta passed on in March, 2013 after 3 years of treatment and hope. Roberta was one of the 7 founding members of D.E.N.S.E. She was a science writer and educated in the health, wellness and science field; yet was shocked, baffled and later outraged that no one ever bothered to tell her about the risks and screening challenges of dense breast tissue. Roberta joins Lori, another founding member of D.E.N.S.E. on the otherside.

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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.