MARCELA
DIAGNOSIS: Never, to date
GENETICS: Sister had breast cancer
BRCA: Tested negative for mutation
PROCEDURE: Mammogram, MRI, biopsies
TREATMENT: Age 41, elected to have preventive bilateral nipple-sparing mastectomies
CANCER-FREE: Lifetime, previvor
Marcela is considered a “Previvor” due to never being diagnosed with breast cancer.
Family history of breast cancer: sister diagnosed in her 40s, treated with chemotherapy and surgery.
Tested negative for BRCA mutation, but Tyrer-Cuzick score was 36.5%.
The multiple findings on her MRIs which often led to further testing and biopsies caused extreme stress and anxiety for Marcela.
At age 41, she elected to have preventive bilateral nipple sparing-mastectomies and was relieved to no longer worry.
More than 1 million women have breast biopsies each year in the United States. About 20 percent of these biopsies yield a diagnosis of breast cancer.
MRI’s can find invasive cancer sooner than mammograms and are best for detecting cancer within dense breast tissue; recommended for women at high risk for developing breast cancer (greater than 20% lifetime risk).
The Tyrer-Cuzick risk calculator helps estimate a woman’s lifetime risk for developing breast cancer: Marcela’s risk is now 1-2%.
Marcela is 50 and has remained cancer-free.
Read No Longer Radical for more stories about women who have had preventive mastectomies.