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New Breast Cancer Guidelines Still Causing A Stir
This week a government panel said most women don't need mammograms in their 40s. That differs from longstanding guidelines which say women should get screenings starting at 40. The task force also recommended against teaching breast self-examination, but one local group says those self-exams and mammograms save lives at any age.
Rebecca DiPiazza Rawson was just 24 years old when she found a lump in her breast.
"It was under two-centimeters. I mean I knew it wasn't my normal. It wasn't what was normal for me."
She knew that because she'd been doing breast self-examinations every month something the new guidelines recommend women not be taught. It turns out that little bitty lump was cancer.
"I had the lumpectomy, and then I had a partial mastectomy, and then I had nine rounds of chemotherapy, a year of infusions, radiation..."
Now 27 years old, she's been cancer-free for three years and is the incoming president for the local Susan G. Komen for the Cure affiliate. We also spoke with the Executive Director Ellen Zahariadis who says the Komen guidelines differ from the federal task force guidelines quite a bit.
"People really need to take charge of their own health," she says. "We recommend that women start to get annual mammograms at age 40.That they do a self exam or self awareness. That they really know their body and changes in their breasts and that they begin to get clinical exams at age 20."
Had DiPiazza Rawson not been self aware, she might not be alive today.
"I can't advocate enough that it's important for women to be aware of their bodies and to know what's normal for them."
She says it's also important to know your family medical history, to talk to your doctor about breast cancer, and to assess your risk. You can do that with this online assessment tool.
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Latest Comments on "New Breast Cancer Guidelines Still Causing A Stir"
posted by: TVWatcher on 9:50 am on 11/20/09
Obama hates women and the American way and if you took an honest look at him, you would want him out of office immediately.
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