One in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer during her lifetime.
It was true in 2008 when I was diagnosed with HER2+ invasive ductal carcinoma in my right breast and Paget’s disease of the breast (1 to 4% of all cases of breast cancer involve Paget’s disease of the breast which affects the nipple of the breast).
I was 48.
In 2022, one in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer during her lifetime. The population goes up and new treatments become available but the number (1 in 8) does not change.
According to the American Cancer Society, 287,000 women and 2,000 men will be diagnosed with breast cancer in 2022 in the United States. One in 833 men will be diagnosed with breast cancer during their lifetime.
Globally, figures from the World Health Organization (WHO) indicate there were 685,000 deaths from breast cancer in 2020. There were also 7.8 million breast cancer survivors who reached the five-year or greater cancer-free milestone. Breast cancer is now considered to be the most prevalent cancer in the world.
Some health experts warn we are overdiagnosing breast cancer. Women with pre-cancerous breast cells are taking proactive measures instead of waiting until they actually have cancer. Women who test positive for the BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene mutation are choosing to have mastectomies and reconstruction as the best preventative measure they can take against this disease.
Are they 100% protected from getting breast cancer? Maybe 90%, but doctors are quick to tell you it is literally impossible to be sure they have removed every single cell of breast tissue during a mastectomy, and sometimes, one cell is all it takes. Am I bursting any bubbles here? I hope not and I want everyone to know that the decisions you and your medical team make to safeguard your health are your decisions and I respect whatever you decide. If I had had the opportunity to almost negate my chances of getting breast cancer I would have been thrilled.
Breast cancer research and treatments have come a long way. In addition to genetic testing for BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene mutations, doctors can now test solid tumors and develop treatment plans for patients and understand patterns of resistance to treatment based on the individual genomic profile of the patient’s cancer.
I knew the type of breast cancer I had, but a testing error made the accurate staging of my cancer impossible. Because of this, my doctors and I had to proceed based on a worst-case scenario. I’m happy to report that I had a complete pathological response to treatment, so we weren’t actually dealing with a worst-case scenario.
My father died of terminal bone cancer that was so far advanced, there was no treatment. His doctors could only send him home with pain medication. My worst-case scenario was not so dire, but I was angry and scared. I didn’t want my sons to go through watching me die.
We all want answers quickly, but there can be consequences for rushing through testing. Most of us with breast cancer aren’t doctors, so we have no idea how fast is too fast. We go where they tell us and have the tests they order. We hurry up and wait for our results and we trust everything has been done correctly. I was completely shell-shocked and didn’t start asking questions until I started getting results explained to me. My oncologist was exceptional. He explained everything and encouraged me to ask questions. Unfortunately, the error was made before I saw him.
I ended up with probably more treatments than I needed, but after 13 years as a survivor, it’s impossible for me to say these additional treatments aren’t part of the reason I’m still here. My sons and I refer to the radiation I received (which was horrific for me) as a happy accident even though it permanently damaged my skin and caused me to have complications and additional reconstruction. As I’m typing this article I am 30 days post-surgery and will have a final surgery early next year. Yes, I had to have my entire reconstruction removed and replaced more than 10 years after it was done. It's rare and will probably never happen to anyone else you know, but to be honest, I wish this is the type of reconstruction I had had the first time. I feel great and my recovery has been blissfully uneventful.
I recently learned a dear friend of mine has been diagnosed with breast cancer. Unfortunately, she is one of many since my own diagnosis. I admit it hit me hard. It started me thinking about all the women I know who have had breast cancer. Some of them are no longer with us, but many are surviving and thriving. We are part of the 7.8 million survivors and counting. Some of my friends are working on those five years as we speak. I pray they join us. It’s a club none of us wanted to be part of but being on the flip side of breast cancer is unbelievably excellent.
The first person I ever knew who had breast cancer was named Audrey. She was a friend of my mom and my Aunt Cathy. Audrey had a radical mastectomy and suffered from lymphedema after her procedure. She lived several years, but her quality of life was greatly diminished. We’ve come a long way since those days. Audrey is part of my circle along with too many others to list here.
If you do not know someone who has or has had breast cancer, you are either incredibly fortunate or unaware. Many women can now go through treatment with minimal side effects. Your neighbor or co-worker might be battling breast cancer.
Even if you don’t have anyone in your circle of friends, you will recognize these celebrities who have been diagnosed with breast cancer. This is only a small cross-section of well-known cancer survivors and people we have lost to this disease. They are mothers, daughters, sisters, dads, brothers, sons, athletes, actors, singers, musicians, and political leaders. Spoiler alert – there are men on this list. Next to their names is their approximate age when they were diagnosed (Youngest 19 and oldest 82).
Christina Applegate (36)
Betty Ford (56)
Jill Ireland (48)
Wanda Sykes (47)
Julia Louis Dreyfuss (56)
Robin Roberts (46)
Olivia Newton-John (44)
Cynthia Nixon (40)
Judy Blume (74)
Shannen Doherty (44)
Matthew Knowles (67)
Joan Lunden (64)
Melissa Etheridge (43)
Edie Falco (40)
Peter Criss (63)
Suzanne Somers (54)
Sheryl Crow (44)
Carly Simon (54)
Jaclyn Smith (58)
Rita Wilson (58)
Sandra Lee (celebrity chef-48)
Rosalind Russell (Died at 69 of breast cancer)
Janice Dickinson (61)
Martina Navratilova (54)
Dorothy Hamill (52)
Edna Campbell (WNBA 33)
Kikkan Randall (Cross Country Olympic Gold Medalist skier 36)
Chaunté Lowe (Olympic high jumper 35)
Richard Roundtree (51)
Rod Roddy (announcer for The Price is Right 66)
Edward Brooke (First African American elected to the Senate in 1966 – 82)
Ernie Green (Fullback for the Cleveland Browns from 1962to 1968 – 67)
Kylie Minogue (39)
Dame Maggie Smith (74)
Sarah Harding (Singer 38 - died at 39 of breast cancer)
Hoda Kotb (43)
Kathy Bates (55)
Jane Fonda (73)
Gloria Steinem (52)
Hilary Farr (63)
Miranda McKeon (actress 19)
Kristin Dahlgren (47- NBC News correspondent)
Maura Tierney (44)
Jessica St. Clair (actress- Playing House 38)
Mindy Cohn (46)
Katie Couric (65)
Andrea Mitchell (Journalist 64)
Tig Notaro (Standup comedian 40)
Guilana Rancic (E! News Host 36)
Linda McCartney (Wings 53)
Kate Jackson (39)