Woman Battles Rare, Hard To Detect Breast Cancer

LOS ANGELES - Diana reads her book of inspiration everyday. She made it the night of her diagnosis. That's when Surgical Breast Specialist Dr. Kristi Funk of Pink Lotus Breast Center told her she had breast cancer, a cancer Diana had never heard of. It rarely shows up on mammograms.

It's called Inflammatory Breast Cancer or IBC, where the cancer cells invade the lymph vessels right beneath the skin. There's no lump to feel or show up on a scan, just a change in the breast that so often can be ignored. Diana says first she felt a heavy feeling in her breast, then it was red like a rash. The color got more red as the days went by. Then in the area around the nipple it started to fade and turned almost a green and yellow color. The nipple became inverted. Her breast eventually got hot to the touch and started itching. It also felt heavy. All of these signs of IBC.

The average age of a woman with IBC is 56. The danger is it can be mistaken for a breast infection and treated with rounds of antibiotics, wasting precious time. It is different than your average breast cancer because it grows so rapidly and spreads so quickly. Dr. Funk says a time lapse of two or three months can be the difference between stage 3 and 4 disease, which means curable vs. incurable.

Diana unlike many people caught the cancer before it spread too much. Her treatment includes radiation, chemotherapy, a mastectomy and removal of the lymph nodes under one armpit where the cancer had spread. Dr. Funk says there was a time when the cancer was not in the lymph nodes so they did not catch it as soon as they would have liked, but there were no signs.

Still, Diana's prognosis is very good, the cancer has not spread to any other part of her body. Dr. Funk says hers is curable but it will be a journey. The Doctor believes Diana's fighting spirit and attitude will go far when it comes to treatment. She calls Diana and inspiration.

Diana vows to beat this and go to the breast walk next year with her friends and relatives. She hopes her story will educate others and maybe even save lives.

You can email Diana at: dianaf@octitle.com.

For information on Dr. Kristi Funk of Pink Lotus Breast Center, click here. You can also email the center at mail@pinklotusmedical.com.

To learn about inflammatory breast cancer, log onto the IBC Research Foundation.