My diagnosis also led to my younger sister being diagnosed.

I went in for my yearly OB-GYN appointment in June 2014. I was 36 at the time. She had told me to get a baseline mammogram done last year at my visit, but life got in the way, and I just didn't do it. This time I promised her I would do it. My mammogram was in July. I was called back a few days later saying they wanted me to come in for additional pictures. I was not afraid, because I had been told years before I had dense breast tissue, and they mentioned it was more than likely just that. When I had the diagnostic mammogram taken, they immediately scheduled me for a biopsy of my left side. I was supposed to get a call with the results of the biopsy. The night of August 26th I realized they hadn't called, but I wasn't worried. However, the next morning, the morning of my oldest son's 14th birthday, my OB-GYN herself called me. As soon as I heard her voice, I knew I was in trouble. She said I was DCIS stage 0...essentially catching it extremely early. After my BRCA2 test came back inconclusive however, I was adamant about getting a double mastectomy, I just didn't want to go through this again later in life, and felt in my heart this was the best way. During the mastectomy they would also do the lymph node biopsy. That is when they found that the cancer had spread, and I was actually Stage 2 with a very aggressive strain. My little sister was then tested at age 34, and also diagnosed with DCIS stage 0. She also had a double, and thankfully no other cancer was found. I am going through chemo and then radiation now, and am very confident I will be cancer free when all of this is done. I am also blessed that my sister was diagnosed, because she would never had gone at age 34 for a mammogram had I not been diagnosed, so I am thankful for my diagnosis, because it helped my sister too.

Brooke Dalton
Maumee, OH