Breast Cancer Month is important reminder
As National Breast Cancer Month comes to a close, there is no better time than now for women to work on protecting themselves.
Nancy Williams, a professor in the journalism and communication department, said shortly after she turned 40, she found a lump in her breast when she was showering. She did not jump to conclusions.
“It didn’t alarm me,” she said.
She said she waited through one menstrual cycle to see if the lump was still there and found that it felt bigger.
She scheduled an appointment with her doctor and when he felt the bump “he turned pale,” she said.
“I think he knew immediately,” Williams said. “That was the end of the world as I knew it and the beginning of a new world.”
Williams, who participates in an online breast cancer support group, has found that young women are more frequently being diagnosed with breast cancer.
“Our impression that it’s an older woman’s illness is not true,” Williams said.
Deb Flansburg, a certified nurse/midwife said, “Breast cancer is more aggressive in younger women because their natural hormones feed it.”
A young woman’s best protection against this type of cancer is to perform monthly breast exams, Flansburg said.
“This is the No. 1 best thing, you or your partner will find [a lump],” she said.
Flansburg said younger women should not be concerned about their breasts feeling lumpy because there is more tissue in them than in older women.
“Be familiar with your bumps,” she said. “If something changes, you’ll know it.”
The best time to perform a monthly breast exam is after one’s period because breasts are less lumpy then, Flansburg said.
In addition to self-exams, every woman should be getting physical exams every year, Flansburg said.
“They’re inconvenient and not fun, but may save your life,” she said.
There are certain factors which make a woman more susceptible to breast cancer, but no one is truly protected from the disease, Williams said.
She said she did everything she was supposed to and “got it anyway.”
Flansburg said women with family histories are at a greater risk for developing breast cancer. Also, women who aren’t living active lifestyles are “more at risk than someone who eats healthy foods and takes vitamins.”
A poster issued by the American Cancer Society outside the Student Health Center reads, “There is only one type of woman at risk for breast cancer. The female type.”
According to the Web site www.breastcancersite.com, one in eight women either have or will develop breast cancer in their lifetime. In 2000, 43,300 women died from breast cancer. However, if it is detected early, the five year survival rate for the illness is more than 95 percent.
“Do your breast exams,” Flansburg said. “We want healthy women and mothers.”