This October marks the 29th annual Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Organizations, corporations, and individuals partake in fundraisers worldwide to promote acceptance and awareness of the widespread disease. At Divine Caroline, we know knowledge is power, so we talked to experts and a breast cancer survivor to get to lowdown on what every woman (and man) should know about breast cancer. Get involved, get pink, and get to know your body.

Tags Breast Cancer
Deb Kirkland first started performing breast exams in nursing school, practicing on peers at the behest of her instructor. It was the first time she learned the statistics, risk factors, and symptoms of the disease. She was healthy, had no family history of breast cancer, and was young, yet she noticed a lump in her right breast during a self-exam at age 32. Concerned, she went to her OBGYN and was referred for a mammogram and ultrasound, which led to a biopsy that gave her a diagnosis. I was shocked to hear the words, 'You have breast cancer,' Kirkland says of the day she received the news. That day I became a statistic 1 in 8 women will have breast cancer in their lifetime.

Kirkland opted for a bilateral mastectomy—a decision that, she said, had no affect on her survival rate but decreased the risk of breast cancer recurring in her other breast to less than 1 percent—and started chemotherapy, followed by daily doses of Tamoxifen for the next five years. Now a survivor of 13 years, Kirkland continues the fight to promote self-awareness through her work as a patient navigator at the Hoffberger Breast Center at Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore.

Breast cancer discriminates no age and no gender Twenty-one percent of women diagnosed in 2013 were under the age of 50. Kirkland's fight is no exception to the statistics, but her knowledge of the risks and self-awareness allowed for early detection and a quick response. Knowledge is power, so we talked to Kirkland and Dr. Dennis L Citrin, medical oncologist at Cancer Treatment Centers of America at Midwestern Regional Medical Center in Illinois, to get the facts every young woman needs to know about breast cancer. Though October is dedicated to the awareness of the disease, we encourage you to continue the fight and spread the knowledge yearlong.

There's No Such Thing As Being Too Young
It's a myth that young women have virtually no risk of developing breast cancer. In fact, 25,000 women under the age of 45 develop breast cancer every year, according to Dr. Citrin. The youngest patient Dr. Citrin has treated was diagnosed when she was 22 years old, without a family history of the disease. Just because a woman is young doesn't mean that if she feels something wrong with her breast, she shouldn't just either assume or allow a doctor to reassure her that it's a benign disease simply because of her age, Dr. Citrin says. I would emphasize that if any woman feels anything different in her breast from what she's used to normally, she has to have it checked out by an experienced physician. If it feels different to the patient, it has to be evaluated, and that means an ultrasound usually followed up by a biopsy. Kirkland recommends women have annual clinical breast exams beginning at age 20, and annual mammograms at age 40.

Breast Cancer Is A Fight That Can Be Won
It's important to understand the biology of the disease, and to create an individualized treatment plan with a team of medical professionals. It's no longer the paradigm of one-size-fits-all, everyone will have surgery and whatever else is needed, Dr. Citrin says. Bilateral mastectomy is really almost never required except on women who have the breast cancer gene, BRCA. I think it's important to emphasize that most women who have early stage breast cancer can confidently expect to be cured of their disease. As long as they have the proper treatment, which usually involves all three modalities of treatment including surgery, radiation and some form of drug treatment, then they can confidently expect to be cured of the disease.

The Future Is Bright
Myriad resources for financial, physical, mental, and emotional support exist today to help men and women affected by breast cancer. It's natural to be frightened at the possibility or prognosis of breast cancer, but Dr. Citrin is optimistic that the future is bright. Over the last 20 years, there's been an explosion of knowledge about breast cancer, Dr. Citrin says. Really and truly the prognosis is much, much better now than it has ever been before. Most women are completely cured of their disease and treatment is much easier and much more accessible than it ever used to be. I think the future is looking much, much brighter for women with breast cancer than it ever was before.

Source: www.divinecaroline.com

BDST: 1725 HRS, AUG 04, 2015
Edited by:  Sharmina Islam, Lifestyle Editor