Breast cancer can affect anyone

My mother had six siblings, 16 aunts and uncles and innumerable cousins. She was the first of them all to be diagnosed with breast cancer. I think of my mom every time one of my patients tells me they aren’t concerned about breast cancer because it doesn’t run in their family. Unfortunately, that is true of most people who are diagnosed with the disease.

I also think of my mother every time I do a breast exam or teach someone else how to do a self exam. Her breast cancer was one not detectable by the mammogram technology available in the early 2000s. Even today, with 3D mammograms, not all bre...