Breast Cancer

Writer: Atessa

“It is estimated that about 1 in 8 Canadian women will develop breast cancer during their lifetime and 1 in 34 will die from it.” according to the Canadian Cancer Society. Following skin cancer, breast cancer is the second leading cause of death from cancer in Canadian women. Men can also develop breast cancer, but it is way less common. This terrible disease has impacted millions of people all around the world and it is important that we are educated and aware of it.

What is breast cancer?

“Breast cancer is an uncontrolled growth of breast cells.” is the first sentence on breastcancer.org when you ask what breast cancer is. There are multiple types of breast cancer and each type depends on which cells in the breast turn into cancer.

Breast cancer can develop in either three parts of the breast: the lobules, ducts, and connective tissue. Usually, breast cancer will begin in the lobules or the ducts. Over time, the cancer cells in the breasts can travel through the blood and lymph vessels and get into the underarm and your lymph nodes.

Causes:

Breast cancer is caused by a genetic abnormality. Only 5-10% of cancers are caused by an abnormality inherited from your parents and 85-90% of breast cancers are caused by genetic abnormalities that are a result of aging and life in general.

Different types of breast cancer:

Here are a couple of the more common types of breast cancer:

• Invasive ductal carcinoma: This is where the cancer cells begin in the ducts and then grow outside the ducts into other parts of the breast tissue.

• Invasive lobular carcinoma: This time, the cancer cells begin in the lobules and spread from the lobules to the breast tissues that are nearby. Like invasive ductal carcinoma, this type of breast cancer can also spread to other parts of the body.

Symptoms:

Symptoms of breast cancer differ from person to person, but I’ll list some symptoms that are more common. Remember that some people do not have any symptoms at all.

• New lump in the breast or underarm

• Thickening or swelling of part of the breast

• Irritation or dimpling of breast skin

• Redness or flaky skin in the nipple area or the breast

• Pain in any area of the breast

Treatment:

There are multiple methods to treat breast cancer. The method depends on what type of breast cancer you have and how far it has spread. If you have breast cancer, you can usually get more than one method of treatment. Here are some of the things we can do to treat breast cancer:

• Surgery: An operation where your surgeon will cut out cancer tissue

• Chemotherapy: Chemotherapy uses medicine to shrink or kill cancer cells. This can be taken with pills or it might be injected into your veins or both

• Hormonal therapy: This treatment blocks cancer cells from getting the hormones they need for growth

• Biological therapy: Biological therapy works with your body’s immune system to help it fight the cancer cells and can also control side effects from other cancer treatments

• Radiation therapy: This treatment uses high-energy rays to kill the cancer cells; it’s similar to X-rays

Breast cancer is sadly a part of so many peoples’ lives. To support people impacted by breast cancer, you can start with educating yourself on the disease. I have included a list of links where you can donate to organizations for breast cancer.

https://support.cancer.ca/site/SPageServer?pagename=DJ_NW_donation_type_selector&s_locale=en_CA&_ga=2.248897615.956793492.1640994261-98576176.1640994261

https://give.breastcancer.org/give/294499/?_gl=1*1o7e7iq*_gcl_aw*R0NMLjE2NDA5OTY5MzcuQ2p3S0NBaUE4YnFPQmhBTkVpd0Etc0lsTjZlcm5JOTR6elIxSXVBZFhMSFZaRV92RThBOUFWbVc0NWtMbmtPZDFPcVlWaGZCRzM4cVl4b0NCRU1RQXZEX0J3RQ..#!/donation/checkout?c_src=header

https://donate.bccancerfoundation.com/site/SPageNavigator/thisispersonal.html;jsessionid=00000000.app270b?s_src=EOY21PPC&gclid=CjwKCAiA8bqOBhANEiwA-sIlN1PSpMPXPAAoWmdjETTuOyy4GkKMXlBTC-iK2wIvoCFGkEbR-qHaGxoCkeMQAvD_BwE&NONCE_TOKEN=3E53ED3B138BD6549C7883C30E73D930

https://www.bcrf.org/

Sources:

“What Is Breast Cancer?” Breastcancer.org, 18 May 2018, https://www.breastcancer.org/symptoms/understand_bc/what_is_bc?gclid=CjwKCAiA8bqOBhANEiwA-sIlN6ernI94zzR1IuAdXLHVZE_vE8A9AVmW45kLnkOd1OqYVhfBG38qYxoCBEMQAvD_BwE

“What Is Breast Cancer?” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 22 Sept. 2021, https://www.cdc.gov/cancer/breast/basic_info/what-is-breast-cancer.htm

Boughey, Judy C. “Breast Cancer.” Mayo Clinic, Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, 16 Oct. 2021, https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/breast-cancer/symptoms-causes/syc-20352470

Lee, Sid. “Breast Cancer Statistics.” Canadian Cancer Society, https://cancer.ca/en/cancer-information/cancer-types/breast/statistics