New York woman who beat breast cancer in her 30s reveals surprising sign of disease — that wasn’t a lump
A New York woman who beat breast cancer in her 30s has revealed the surprising sign of the disease.
Instead of the classic breast cancer flag — a lump — Megan Liscomb, 37, noticed visual changes in her breast.
She originally attributed this to “aging,” she said in her first-person piece about Buzz feed.
A leading health panel recently recommended reducing the age at which women are regularly screened for breast cancer from 50 to 40 years.
But Ms Liscomb said those screenings are too late for younger cancer patients like herself – so it’s vital everyone knows the signs to watch out for.
Fortunately, Mrs. Liscomb’s cancer was curable and she is currently cancer-free
She said her right breast “started to droop while the old left-hander was still high up where he always did,” but she thought it was just part of getting older.
One day when she took off her bra, she realized that her left breast was folded in half in the cup, with the nipple ‘sunken in the middle’.
On self-examination she saw that her left breast had a bulge on one side and when she raised her arm, dents appeared in the breast.
The first doctor she saw touched her breasts and told her it was normal.
She said, “He was very reassuring but also a bit patronizing, and I left the appointment feeling ashamed for worrying about ‘nothing.'”
A few months later, she went to a second doctor, who immediately sent her for an ultrasound and mammogram.
“The ultrasound tech looked at me like I was a ghost and offered me a biopsy the same day, and I knew in that moment it was serious,” she said.
About a week later, she received a call that she had stage two invasive lobular carcinoma.
This is the second most common form of breast cancer, but accounts for only about 10 percent of cases.
Fortunately, Mrs. Liscomb’s cancer was curable and she is currently cancer-free.