BRILEY
DIAGNOSIS: Age 25 | Stage 1
GENETICS: No family history
BRCA: Tested positive for mutation
PROCEDURE: Mammogram, MRI, biopsies
TREATMENT: Double mastectomy without reconstruction
CANCER-FREE: 5 years
Briley was diagnosed with Stage one breast cancer at the age of 25, and presented with a palpable mass.
She has no family history of breast cancer.
She had a mastectomy without reconstruction due to extent of disease, with the option of having delayed reconstruction.
Briley embraced “going flat” and never had reconstruction, but instead had a beautiful tattoo done on her chest.
She tested positive for BRCA2 mutation, and therefore elected to have a contralateral preventive mastectomy without reconstruction.
A contralateral prophylactic mastectomy (CPM) is a risk-reducing mastectomy.
By removing as much breast tissue as possible, a mastectomy can reduce your risk of breast cancer by up to 90%.
If breast cancer is found early, there are more treatment options and a better chance for survival. Women whose breast cancer is detected at an early stage have a 93 percent or higher survival rate in the first five years.
Breast cancer is sometimes found after symptoms appear, but many women with breast cancer have no symptoms. This is why regular breast cancer screening is so important.
Briley is now 5 years cancer free and is married to the man who was her boyfriend at the time of her diagnosis.
Read No Longer Radical for more stories about women of all ages diagnosed with breast cancer and their treatments.