OK, we all know young women get breast cancer. But the way some talk about the pair -- young women and the deadly disease -- it would seem finding a young one living with this type of cancer is like locating that needle in a haystack. Many a young woman -- like me -- have heard doctors and nurses and technicians and family and friends remark, "you are too young for the disease," and then dismiss cancer suspicions as needless worry.The median age for women diagnosed with breast cancer is 65. But think about this fact, published in the Spring/Summer edition of Beyond: Live & Thrive After Breast Cancer.
More than 240,000 women in the United States age 40 and under are living with breast cancer. Each year in this country, more than 14,000 women 40 years old and younger are diagnosed with breast cancer, says Boston oncologist Ann Partridge, M.D., of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
That's a lot of young women. That's a lot of breast cancer. And yet, mammograms still are not recommended for women under the age of 40.
1. I just found this blog today and it turns out Ann is my oncologist (she rocks!!). As a 33 yr old with newly diagnosed breast cancer, I am TIRED of hearing I'm too young. My insurance wouldn't even have paid for me to get a base line mammogram until I was 40. How many young people are willing to fork over the cash for something society and insurance companies tell them they don't need?
Posted at 4:55PM on Mar 22nd 2007 by Rebecca