#breast-cancer

#breast-cancer

"I thought it was normal as my mum really suffered [with period pains] too. But during my first year of university, the symptoms started happening every day, even when I was not bleeding."

Rapid-access clinics are under pressure, with one hospital able to see only one in four patients last year within the 10-day target for breast cancer assessments.

"When you do this job long enough, you understand that breast cancer is nondiscriminatory," Hwang told Business Insider. "I spent a lot of time thinking, why me? If I knew why I got cancer, then I would know how to prevent it from coming back."

Jessica Mason went back and forth to her GP and hospital with swelling, bleeding and pain in her vagina but says she was "fobbed off" before "begging" for a scan which revealed cancer requiring urgent treatment. The 44-year-old believes she was only referred for an MRI because she "broke down in tears" to a doctor, adding: "I knew there was something wrong."

When Ph.D. student LaShae Rolle felt a pain in her chest, she didn't think much of it at first. A little soreness made sense: she was working hard in the gym, preparing to bench press nearly 300 pounds for a powerlifting competition. The pain came and went, but then Rolle noticed a lump in her breast, a textbook warning sign of breast cancer. It was a red flag she was deeply familiar with from her own studies on cancer prevention and treatment.

For years, scientists have viewed cancer as a localized glitch in which cells refuse to stop dividing. But a new study suggests that, in certain organs, tumors actively communicate with the brain to trick it into protecting them. Scientists have long known that nerves grow into some tumors and that tumors containing lots of nerves usually lead to a worse prognosis.

Anais Muczynski, 36, an orthoptist who lives with her husband Vincent Muczynski, 41, a researcher, received her primary breast cancer diagnosis in January 2023 after discovering a quail egg-sized lump in her left breast. At the time, the London-based couple were "optimistic", as it was stage one meaning the cancer was only in the breast tissue or in the lymph nodes close to the breast and she underwent chemotherapy, immunotherapy, and a double mastectomy.

At 48, the Los Angeles-based celebrity OB-GYN of clients like the Kardashians and Rihanna went in for a routine mammogram. The doctor spotted and ordered a biopsy of a lesion of atypical cells in her left breast that could become cancerous over time. Aliabadi was told that everything was fine and to come back in six months.

New findings on cancer survival rates offer hope for the more than 2 million Americans diagnosed each year. Seven out of 10 Americans diagnosed with cancer now survive five years or more, according to the American Cancer Society, a 7 percent increase since the mid-1990s, when the rate stood at 63 percent. The survival rate data - from patients diagnosed with cancer between 2015 and 2021 - showed, significantly, that those with high-mortality cancers and advanced diagnoses had the largest gains.

The discovery, combined with her fibrocystic breasts -a common, noncancerous condition that can cause lumps and cysts-meant that she needed a more comprehensive diagnostic exam to investigate the symptoms. But her insurance covered just a basic screening mammogram, so she paid thousands of dollars out of pocket for the in-depth imaging, which includes an ultrasound.

The cancer was fastacting, and if I'd left it even six months, the outcome could have been much worse,

A report last year found unnecessary surgeries were carried out, cancers were missed and poor standards of care were delivered at the University Hospital of North Durham and Darlington Memorial Hospital. CDDTF said it wanted to support the patients it had let down, including by offering access to psychological support, and to ensure they knew how to make a claim or raise concerns with police.