Like so many others, breast cancer as well as other types of cancer, run in my family history. This started to concern me when I took care of my Granny the last year of her life, while she was fighting colon cancer.
I do the self exam monthly, but I am not old enough to start having mammograms yet. ( I could actually have one done but insurance will not cover because I am under the age of 40. )
Then as I was watching TV several months ago, I heard of another Breast Cancer that is not detected through a mammogram, called IBC, Inflammatory Breast Cancer. This really got me thinking, what if several members of my family actually died from this and they did not consider it breast cancer back then? Does this run in my family as well? How would I know if they just discovered this “type” of cancer recently?
So, needless to say, I read anything and everything that has to do with cancer to learn as much as I can. Today, while on AOL, I read this article about a new procedure that could detect breast cancer early, AND you don’t have to have your breast pancaked in the process!!!!
The part of the article that really caught my eye was thinking of other countries that could not afford to bring in the mammography machines. This is an amazing article and if this early detection does work, how can we speed up the process of getting it approved for use at-least in countries that do not have early detection devices?
If anyone has any ideas or more information, let me know. Think how many lives this would save in other countries? In the U.S? Let’s get some letters or petitions or something going ASAP. (And remember to do your own self exam every month!)
Karen – great article. One thing I wanted to point out is your link to National Breast Cancer Foundation is broken. Also – they just launched a program you may want to check out. http://www.nationalbreastcancer.org/edp