This morning I hopped on my treadmill early to get in my training and catch a little of the news before I started my day.  I caught the latest news on breast cancer released from Durham, North Carolina from the Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Duke Institute for Genome Sciences & Policy.  Breast Cancers in women under 40 tend to be more agressive and have a worse prognosis.  This is no secret, and it’s the reason why oncologists treat women under 40 with the most aggressive treatments.  The good news is researchers are beginning to understand why this is the case and thus they are able to develop better and more targeted therapies to treat young women.  Now that’s something to celebrate. 

I caught the story on NBC, ABC and a press release sent from my writer friend.  The story didn’t go to much deeper on the subject but they did address their thoughts on screening and early detection.  For women under 40, clinical and self-breast exams are critical.  After my initial diagnosis, one of my friends found checkyourboobies.org.  I encourage you to visit this site and sign up for monthly email alerts.  I also encourage you to share this with all the women in your life.  Mammograms do not always show cancer because our breasts are much denser than breasts of older women.  I’ll add the importance of knowing your family history including the limitations of your family history like mine–my father was an only child of a mother with 4 brothers.  Few women equates to few breast cancers.  If you do have a family history, I encourage you to check out the FORCE website and/or talk to a genetics counselor.  We do know that early detection is key to survival. 

As I watched these news stories, I increased the speed and incline on my treadmill and hoped that all my training, fundraising and awareness building continues to pay off