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Lynn Kennedy's avatar

My daughter was diagnosed with stage 4 aggressive breast cancer. She went the whole nine yards..lumpectomy, then mastectomy with lots of lymph node removal, followed by chemo and radiation. She was tested for the gene and was negative. She just turned 55. It was her amazing group of friends who arranged for her dinner every night for many weeks, drove her young kids to school and events, and were simply there. Lean on your friends and family…they will get you through this.

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Leslie A.'s avatar

I am sorry to hear of the author’s diagnosis and commend her on engaging in the battle that is cancer treatment - wishing her many, many years of health and happiness.

I do want to be a voice of extreme caution, in that we shouldn’t use individual experiences and our emotional responses to them to drive screening and treatment policies - even for the simple fact that a lot of energy will be wasted by The Line readers. These policies HAVE to be data-driven. There are enormous issues with the benefits of screening as weighed against the costs at a population level. Not the least of which, imagine thousands of additional patients spending weeks worrying, as this author did, about a lump that turns out to be benign. This is not without emotional and financial costs, to everyone involved.

Self-exam away ladies, this is the best thing you can do for yourselves as you know your bodies best. But in terms of mammograms and other screening policies, I look forward to The Line publishing a more nuanced public health perspective.

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