LEBANON, Mo. (KY3) - After finding a lump on her breast, Courtney Elder knew something was wrong.
”It was a very rough part of my life. I went to the doctor to have it checked and it was a rare form of breast cancer,” said Elder, a resident of Lebanon, Missouri.
Luckily, she found it early.
”I went through four months of chemo,” said Elder. “I didn’t do any radiation but they did a double mastectomy.”
She was only 39, and her diagnoses came out of left field.
”None of it was family genetics, none of it was related to hormones at all. I just don’t understand a lot of it,” said Elder.
On average, one in eight women will have breast cancer in their lifetime.
”It can happen at any age. There’s are actually more cases of those who don’t have a family history than those those who do have a family history,” said Meagan Walkenhorst with the Breast Cancer Foundation of the Ozarks
New information released from The World Health Organization said that breast cancer has surpassed lung cancer as the world’s most commonly-diagnosed cancer.
Health experts said the pandemic has resulted late-stage diagnosis and lack of access to treatment.
”The routine screening prevention tests were shut down for several months just out of protection for the community. A lot of people were afraid to leave their homes,” said Walkenhorst.
Walkenhorst reports a 22% decrease in patients in 2020.
”The tumors are smaller, the treatment plans can be a little less harsh. The treatment length may be shorter. Being able to catch it as early as you can is the difference between life and death,” said Walkenhorst.
Courtney agrees, finding it early can be lifesaving.
”To go get checked is nothing. It’s not painful. It’s not anything what you’d go through if you don’t,” said Elder. “From how long it took just to get into appointments from the first part it had grown. Some of it’s aggressive and mine was the most aggressive. It would of been detrimental to my health.”
Breast Cancer Foundation of the Ozarks recommends monthly self and exams for both men and women.
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