Ms. Donovan, who was 33 at the time, had metastatic breast cancer that had spread to her bones. I was really just in shock... adding that back then she didn't even know the meaning of the word metastasis.
Patients with young-onset breast cancer—which clinicians typically define as diagnosed before the age of 40—are more likely than older patients to have aggressive forms of the disease, said Dr. Ann Partridge.
The incidence rate among women under age 50 increased by about 1.4 percent each year. In 2024, there were just under 51,000 new invasive breast cancer cases among women under 50.
Though cancer among patients under 50 is still relatively rare overall, the increase in breast cancer rates among younger patients is alarming, coinciding with rises in early-onset cancers more generally.
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