LOS ALAMITOS, Calif. — October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, a time to raise awareness and honor patients and survivors. Research reveals that in 2022, there were 2.3 million women diagnosed and 670,000 deaths from breast cancer worldwide.
Breast cancer begins when healthy breast cells start to change or mutate. Instead of growing and dividing in an orderly way, cells grow out of control and form a tumor. As the cancer spreads throughout the body, the cancer cells attach to organs or tissues—often the lungs, bones, liver or brain—and begin forming new tumors.
The new tissues in the body begin to damage the surrounding normal tissues, causing symptoms such as bone pain, headaches, shortness of breath, and pain in other parts of the body. Symptoms of ongoing pain or lumps are from the cell growth inside your body, caused by the cancer.
This life-changing diagnosis affects many aspects of a person’s life, including their emotional and physical well-being.
Emotionally, this diagnosis can make you experience anxiety, sadness, loneliness, anger or irritability. Showing signs of continuous tiredness, skin changes, abnormal swelling, breast changes and bone pain are physical side effects of breast cancer.
However, some diagnosed patients have no symptoms of the cancer, especially in the early stages. The stage of your breast cancer depends on the location and size of the tumor.
The “early stages” of cancer are stages zero and one, when the cancer is contained in the breast and hasn’t spread, which makes it more treatable. In the United States, most early-stage cancer is found with screening mammography, some even before any symptoms or warning signs.
More challenging stages to treat are three and four, for the cancer has already spread throughout the body and could have reached nearby tissue or lymph nodes.
Equally important–not just older women struggle with breast cancer, but younger women as well. Breast cancer developing in women under the age of 40 is less common than in older women, but not negligible.
“Unfortunately, nowadays, (cancer) seems environmental — what we eat, what we breathe, and what’s around us. Be aware, be cautious, and stay on top of your health,” said Cristina, an employee of City of Hope Orange County, breast cancer
Breast cancer in younger women tends to show up at a later stage, but tends to have more aggressive features than in older women. The tumors grow more aggressively and spread faster in young women.
The cancer could have developed from inherited mutations in the genes, lifestyle factors, family history, hormonal effects and cell mutations.
Treatments to treat this disease, such as chemotherapy, radiation and surgery, can kill the tumor cells and prevent the cancer from returning or spreading. Each treatment option is based on your diagnosis, and each has its benefits and risks.
Because breast cancer isn’t entirely avoidable and isn’t something we can control–one thing you can control is how you take care of yourself. Taking care of your body can look like many things and can lower the risk of breast cancer.
“Eating healthy foods and vegetables, avoiding meats, consistently exercising, managing stress, and frequent visits to the doctor for physicals and check-ups,” said Cristina.
