Early detection critical in breast cancer fight
It's Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Patients are sharing their stories to educate women about the disease and the importance of early detection.
Rene Williams gets mammograms and does self exams with her family history of breast cancer. Earlier this year, the 52-year-old felt a lump. "My mom passed away from breast cancer when I was five years old. I always had a feeling that either me or my sisters, one of us, would end up with it and it ended up being me," she says.
Williams was diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer. According to the American Cancer Society, the aggressive cancer is more common in women under 40 who are Black or who have a BRCA1 mutation. The cancers are more likely to come back after treatment and have a poorer outlook than other breast cancers.
Dr. Sylvia Adams, director of the Breast Cancer Center at NYU Perlmutter Cancer Center, says that adding immunotherapy to the standard chemotherapy is a major advance in treatment for patients, including Williams. "We actually had a very early, good, clinical response and were able to take her to surgery earlier. And she had no residual cancer at time of surgery which predicts an excellent outcome and cure," says Dr. Adams.
For patients with early disease, clinical trials are underway to better tailor treatments. "To make sure patients have less side effects from the chemotherapy, maybe we can do less chemotherapy in some patients," Dr. Adams says.
Williams says, "I don't care what diagnosis you get, that doesn't mean it's a death sentence."
Williams wants women to know early detection is critical. The mother and grandmother is starting radiation. She's back at work as an oncology clerk and grateful to help others going through what she has.
The American Cancer Society estimates nearly 288,000 new breast cancer cases will be diagnosed in women this year. Triple-negative breast cancer accounts for 10 to 15 percent of all breast cancers.