Heartbreaking rise of women in their 20s and 30s who are diagnosed with cancer in the prime of their lives

Women in the prime of their lives have revealed their shock at being diagnosed with a cancer that is rapidly increasing in young women.

The incidence of breast cancer is increasing twice as fast in people under 50 as in people over 50, a trend thought to be related to an overall increase in the number of premature cancers.

Bianca Carter from Connecticut was 29 when she was diagnosed with stage three breast cancer in 2017, leading to a series of brutal surgeries that robbed her of the chance to have a large family.

Meanwhile, Maria Costa was just 33 when she was diagnosed with stage three invasive breast cancer in 2022, after a year of requesting a mammogram.

She now worries that she will no longer be able to get married and start a family after entering medically induced menopause.

Maria Costa (pictured here during treatment), 35, was diagnosed with stage three breast cancer after requesting a mammogram for a year. She now fears she will no longer be able to date or have children

And Mariana Robbins of South Carolina discovered she had breast cancer last year at age 40 after her first mammogram.

Although her cancer was diagnosed in the first stage, she lives in constant fear that the cancer will return and leave her unable to watch her four-year-old son grow up.

Although the cause is largely unclear, experts have suggested that the rise in breast cancer rates in young people may be partly due to changes in reproductive habits, such as having children later and starting menstruation earlier.

In response to rising breast cancer rates, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force lowered the recommended screening age from 50 to 40 in April.

The agency predicted that this move could prevent 1.3 cases of breast cancer deaths per 1,000 women over a lifetime of screening.

However, this still excludes women in their 20s and 30s.

And because women in these age groups have historically been at such a low risk for the disease, many women say their early symptoms are ignored.

When Mrs Carter sought medical help after discovering a lump in her breast, doctors initially refused screening and insisted the lump was not there.

She told Good Morning America that she had to be “very persistent” before the team would finally give in and give her an ultrasound and mammogram.

Despite having no family history, Mrs Carter was diagnosed with stage three invasive ductal carcinoma, which accounts for around eight in 10 cases of breast cancer.

Although the survival rate for this cancer is nearly 100 percent in the early stages, this drops to only 31 percent when the disease spreads to the lymph nodes and surrounding organs.

Within just nine months of her diagnosis, Ms. Carter underwent eight surgeries, including a double mastectomy and a full hysterectomy, along with 40 rounds of radiation and 10 rounds of chemotherapy.

Now she and her husband can no longer have the large family they dreamed of because of the hysterectomy and hormone treatments, which she will continue to undergo for at least five more years.

Ms Carter said: ‘As a woman, you’re almost stripped of that femininity. You’ve been stripped of your breasts and your female reproductive system… It’s not what it used to be.”

Mrs Carter – pictured with her husband, son and their dog – said her cancer forced her to have a hysterectomy, depriving her of the chance to have a large family.

Ms. Costa asked her gynecologist for a mammogram in 2021 because both her mother and aunt were diagnosed with breast cancer. A year later, even as her doctor felt a lump in her breast, she was told she was still too young.

But shortly after finally getting a mammogram, Ms. Costa was diagnosed with stage three invasive lobular carcinoma, a rare, slow-growing breast cancer that starts in the milk-producing glands of the breast.

According to the nonprofit Breastcancer.org, this form accounts for approximately one in 10 cases of breast cancer. As with invasive ductal carcinoma, the survival rate in the early stages is nearly 100 percent, although it can drop to as little as 22 percent after spread.

Ms Costa, now 35, told Good Morning America: ‘I had to fight to get doctors to listen to me, and if I was diagnosed in 2021, my journey could have been different. I have had an extremely difficult journey since I was diagnosed.”

She was placed into medically induced menopause, which lowers levels of hormones such as estrogen, which can increase the risk of cancer spreading or returning.

Additionally, she said multiple surgeries left her breast looking deformed and reconstructive surgery has been postponed.

Ms Costa said: ‘On bad days I think, ‘I’m bald and have no breasts.’ How do I explain that? If I want to date, how do I have this conversation?’

Ms Robbins, who is now 41, was diagnosed with stage one invasive breast cancer last year. The specific form is unclear, but invasive breast cancer includes invasive ductal carcinoma, invasive lobular carcinoma, inflammatory breast cancer, and triple-negative breast cancer.

She had just had her first mammogram.

Although she was diagnosed early, Ms. Robbins continued to experience serious side effects from the treatment, including nerve pain.

She said: ‘The recovery is difficult. It lasted about three or four months and you can’t use your arms, you can’t do anything.’

Mrs. Robbins has completed all treatments and shows no signs of cancer, although she fears she will never see her son grow up.

The graph above shows how breast cancer rates have been increasing by one percent each year across all age groups, but slightly faster among women under 50

“There’s always that fear, no matter what,” she said. ‘I have been acquitted. I have no signs of illness at the moment, which is amazing, and I’m so grateful, but that fear is always there, and I’m told it stays with you forever.”

The American Cancer Society estimates that approximately 310,000 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year. And about 42,000 will die.