What to do when you don't know what to do.
Earlier this month, I saw a post on Instagram about a young 34-year-old woman who has been diagnosed with Stage 4 breast cancer.
In one of her many posts, she tells her followers, that she felt a lump several months ago and it hurt. So, after a couple of months she "googled" does breast cancer hurt and the answer was no. She went on about her business. After almost a year, this lump did not go away and she decided to get it check out. It was cancer.
This one hit hard.
She is 34 years old.
She was doing her self breast exam.
The lump did not go away.
She was not, technically, ready for a mammogram because 40 is the recommended number.
Google told her that cancer does not hurt.
In another post, she said that "had she been educated about reporting changes to her body no matter what", she would have had it checked out when she found it! If the doctors would have determined it was cancer several months ago, her treatment would have been considerably different. Such as:
Having the option to get pregnant, but now due to her treatment, she will be unable to carry children due to the hormones.
If it had been caught while it was still within her breast tissue, the treatment would have been vastly different.
The cancer has metastasized to her liver and this may have been prevented with early detection.
The most prominent questions at this stage of her cancer? Is Stage 4 a death sentence? NO. No it's not, however, it has changed the trajectory of her treatment and outcome.
Ladies. If you are still reading this email, please help me educate all women of all ages.
Do your monthly self breast exam.
Know how your body looks and feels.
Report any changes to your doctor.
Advocate for yourself and don't rely on Dr. Google.
This hits hard because this is my mission, my purpose, my passion. To educate women of all ages so that someone doesn't end up here like Katie. This is us, our daughters, our mothers, our aunts, our friends.
Call to action: if you are a part of a women's group, whether it's your work team or a bunco group, will you contact me for Breast Health Education? Will you join me in bringing the fight to breast cancer? Shoot me a DM, a text message, or an email at edie@edietolbert.com.
If. If. If.
If someone had told Katie that her lump needed to be checked when she found it, her outcome would be different. She's a fighter and her prognosis is good, but no one should be diagnosed with Stage 4 breast cancer because they just didn't know what to do.
Lastly, please hold Katie up in prayer and all of those navigating breast cancer.
Your Breast Friend,
Edie A. Tolbert
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