Breast Cancer Awareness

Well, there are a few things that I want young women to know, things that I felt I didn't know prior to my diagnosis.

1. Cancer doesn't discriminate so regardless of your age or family history, you are not immune to breast cancer. Breast cancer needs to stop being treated like our grandmother's disease. If you find a lump, get it checked. It probably is nothing but I am living proof that breast cancer can happen in your twenties.

2. I was told that 85% of all cancers are not hereditary (I was told this when I visited the genetics department to get tested for the BRCA genes). I assumed that because no one in my family had breast cancer that the odds of getting it were pretty much impossible but I have since learned that is not the case.

3. If you find a lump, or have any symptoms, tell your doctor. Make sure you are taken seriously and that tests are ordered. I don't know how many women have been told "Oh, you're too young to have breast cancer" meanwhile it only prolongs their diagnosis.