Cancer. It has been a huge part of my life since I was little. My mother was first diagnosed with Stage two Breast Cancer when I was a little girl. As a child, it was frightening seeing my mother vomiting, sweating, and ill. Within my teenage years, my mother was diagnosed with Breast Cancer again. This had been the second time and I was and wanted to be even more aware of the illness. Immediately, I took upon myself to find out all the information I could understand about cancer. At this point, I thought this was the end of the relationship I had with cancer but no, it crept right back into my life, this time succeeding. It grasped on and held tight onto both of my grandmothers. Regardless of the fight, it would not give up and release them.
During the winter of my sophomore year of high school my aunt, whom I am very close with, was diagnosed with stage three ovarian and cervical cancer. She underwent various surgeries and chemotherapy treatments, spent weeks in the hospital, and many more weeks battling the effects of the chemotherapy from home.
As of today, there are many programs and efforts being made that have either already decreased the gap or are attempting to bring change to the problem of increased deaths of African American women from breast cancer. One example is a study that was done in Massachusetts that gave low-income African American women aged 50-70 resources and education for six years, and it was “concluded that the Massachusetts program appeared to mitigate the disadvantages of living in high-poverty neighborhoods” for the incidence of breast cancer in that specific area (Cunningham 595). This study shows that these women need help that has not been previously provided to them in order to reduce the disparity. In this regard, the role of affordable health care needs to be available in order to decrease this problem. The same study showed that “among women without health insurance, disproportionately large numbers are [older African Americans], providing an explanation for high rates of advanced stage cancers at presentation among [African American] women in general” (Cunningham 594). If women are to be able to access affordable screenings, affordable health care must also be provided. Once again, this brings in the role of government in the lives of African American women. Federally qualified health centers offer preventative health care and screenings for a reduced or free cost to women of low socio-economic status, many of which happened to be African American women at a particular clinic, and it was found that the incidence of breast cancer in that community was reduced from the rates that were established previously (Adams 640). Therefore, if low-income women are to be able to access quality health care, then there must be more federally qualified ...
Breast cancer is a type of cancer originates from breast tissue, generally from the inner lining of milk ducts or the lobules that supply the ducts with milk. Cancers originating from lobules are known as lobular carcinomas whereas from ducts are called ductal carcinomas. (Ref: Breast Cancer, National Cancer Institute) Invasive breast cancer is breast cancer that has spread from the point of origin in the breast ducts/lobules to the surrounding normal tissue cells. In exceptional cases, breast cancer can start in at other sites in breast. Breast cancer occurs in both women and men, though male breast cancer is uncommon.
About 12% of women in the United States will develop breast cancer in their lifetime, more than any other type of cancer (www.breastcancer.org, 2015). Many people lack the knowledge of how breast cancer is developed. Some people think they will not get cancer because they do not smoke cigarettes, but this is not the only cause of cancer developing in the breast. Anyone can get cancer. Everyone is potentially at risk for developing some form of Cancer (American Cancer Society, 2015).
Cancer is a deadly disease that millions of people die from a year. Many loved ones are killed with little to no warning affecting families across our world. My family happened to be one that was affected by this atrocious disease. This event changed the way my family members and I viewed cancer.
In life we come across many struggles and hardships. Some have more struggles then others but we all have them. Breast cancer could be one of those struggles whether male or female. Breast cancer is not just something that a woman can get like most people believe. Anyone can get it. In this essay you will about what breast cancer is, some symptoms, how it is treated, and my personal experience with it. Most people do not know what breast cancer is they just know that it is cancer in the breast.
Breast Cancer Breast cancer is only one of 200 different types of cancer. It is considered a woman’s disease but both men and women have the disease. Every year, more than 200,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer. Twelve percent of all women will get the disease and 3.5% of them will die. Breast cancer is the leading cause of death among women who are 40 to 55 years old.
February 25, 2015 was the day my grandma got diagnosed with Breast Cancer. From the day I took my first breath to the day she took her last, she has inspired me and shaped me to be the person I am today. She is the sweetest person anybody would ever meet, she was so strong and never let anything or anybody bring her down. She never talked negative about other people and always said that family and friends come first in life because they will be the people you can trust. She always wanted to see her grandkids play sports and go shopping with her daughter and granddaughter. She never gave up on on people or herself. She could always make a new friend by just saying hi to somebody in line.
I am proud to say that I am a survivor of breast cancer. The years since I discovered I had cancer have, in many ways, been the best part of my life.
My mother was diagnosed with cervical cancer at the time, so when she became sick, I had to become her aid. Every day after school, I would have to do my homework and then tend to my ailing mother via giving her medicine ...
Breast Cancer As defined by Majure, breast cancer is an “uncontrolled growth of abnormal breast cells” (Majure: 110). It is also one of the cancers that women fear the most. Not only do women get diagnosed with breast cancer, men do too. However, it isn't as bad, or as common, in men as it is in women, so doctors don’t recommend screening for men.
Breast cancer is one of the most common types of cancer in women and 70 percentage of breast cancer is caused by the over expression of Estrogen receptor (ER). ER represents a viable and important pharmaceutical target against cancer. It is targeted by pharmaceutical agents for hormone replacement in menopausal women and reproductive cancers such as prostate cancer, uterine cancer and breast cancer [1]. ERs are classified into two types, ER alpha and ER beta which belongs to the super family of nuclear receptors. ER alpha and ER beta have similar but not identical structures. Up regulation of ER alpha causes cell proliferation, inhibition of apoptosis, stimulation of invasion and metastasis, and promotion of angiogenesis. While not much is known about ER beta, it is believed that its function is distinct from ER alpha and it probably has opposing activity on tumour growth [2]. Tamoxifen is the drug regularly prescribed for the treatment of breast cancer. The anticancer property of Tamoxifen has been attributed to its anti estrogenic properties. The use of Tamoxifen is limited due to the acquired Tamoxifen resistance in many cancer patients [3].
In 1966, I lost my grandmother to breast cancer and it was discovered because she fell down some stairs and needed an x-ray to rule out any broken bones. It was advanced and too late for treatment. I never got to meet or know her, but placing that aside she has saved my life through our bloodline. Knowing what she died from has saved my life because of this knowledge when I was thirty-six I got a baseline mammogram, now five years later I will get another this year. This knowledge is power and I have a preventative framework in place along with nutrition and exercise
My Father dying has a profound impact on my perspective on life, and time. In fact it was the first time I considered how much time do I have left? Whereas when my grandfather died it was all about the emotion of the loss. It was also a learning experience in that I never dealt with death before.