Renowned Rodeo Personality & Leukemia Survivor Pam Minick, 72, Who Has Dense Breasts, Beats Cancer Again Thanks To Clinical Trial For Hormone-Positive Breast Cancer

Speaking to NBC 5 News in Dallas-Fort Worth in a recent interview, Minick advised, “Know your body and don’t be afraid. You know, I think that there’s a thing in women where we think that we have to be, you know, woman tough and cowgirl strong and maybe ignore some things.

“But there’s a fine line between knowing your body and being a hypochondriac, maybe. But for me, I paid attention to it, and I said, what is it?”

She’s referring to how despite having a clear mammogram in April 2025, in July of that year she noticed a lump in her breast while putting on lotion. A visit back to her doctor led her to get the suspicious mass biopsied, revealing it was breast cancer.

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Minick, also an accomplished barrel racer and roper, is proud to say she has beat cancer twice, telling NBC5 DFW, “All my life, I felt like I was going to be faced with this disease, but that’s why I was so proactive when I felt that lump.

“All women that make history don’t set out to make history. They set out to make a difference, and by making a difference, sometimes they make history.”

The horse show champion and former Miss Rodeo America, is the embodiment of strength after previously battling leukemia after hip pain she experienced in 2024 turned out to be cancer.

Her hip pain prompted her to see a doctor, who decided to do an MRI with contrast, which revealing her “entire hip area was lit up with leukemia.”

She overcame the disease after seven months of intensive chemotherapy at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, spanning from fall 2024 through spring 2025.

Before she knew it, she was back riding horses, with her hair growing back after treatment, in March 2025.

However, one month later she underwent a routine mammogram. And although the mammogram didn’t find any cancer, a lump arose in her body months after the screening, and ultimately revealed to be cancer.

Minick, whose mom also fought breast cancer, explained, “I religiously have a mammogram every single year, never miss it. Usually also have an ultrasound because I’m the one of those people that says on your mammogram results, you have dense breasts, so we recommend an ultrasound. Shows nothing.

“I have the certificate that says, which I think most women think, that’s your get out of jail pass, and you’re good for another year. We’re in the clear, yeah.”

It wasn’t until July that Minick had felt a lump in the upper part of her breast when applying lotion.

“My first thought was, first of all, how can it be missed in a mammogram, but imaging is area-specific. My second thought was how could I have gone through seven months of high-dose chemo and still have anything living in my body, let alone breast cancer?” Minick, who was diagnosed after getting a biopsy taken, told NBC5 DFW.

She decided to go to UT Southwestern Medical Center and take part in a clinical trial, where researchers are in the second phase of a study on a treatment [targeted radiation] for early-stage, operable hormone-positive breast cancer. Findings of their research have been published in JAMA Network Open.

Minick, who had a single, high-dose of radiation six months ago, said, “So far, knock on wood, one single dose of radiation and the sonogram showed no sign of the tumor.” Her next step will be to undergo a lumpectomy.

According to a press release from UT Southwestern medical Center, the UTSW-led study reported strong treatment results: in 72% of participants, surgeons found no remaining tumor at surgery, known as a “pathological complete response.” Another 21% of patients had a “near-complete response,” with more than 90% of their cancer eliminated.

Study leader, Asal Rahimi, M.D., Professor of Radiation Oncology, said in a statement, “This is a major advance in the field.

“This treatment protocol provides patients a significant time savings, spares a lot of their tissue from irradiation, and allows them to still undergo any type of oncoplastic surgery they may choose, all while very effectively treating their disease.”

SurvivorNet’s Guide To Clinical Trials

Here at SurvivorNet, it’s our goal to help cancer patients make the most informed decisions when it comes to their health.

Sometimes, joining a clinical trial is a good decision.

Every life-saving or life-extending treatment that’s available today for cancer started its journey in a clinical trial. A clinical trial is a study that helps doctors better understand cancer, and discover safer and more effective ways to treat it. Clinical trials also give patients a chance to try a treatment before it’s approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. 

This is SurvivorNet’s guide to clinical trials, where we’ll explain what clinical trials are, why they’re so important and how to go about taking part in one. These trials can give patients access to incredible new therapies, or what some would call “tomorrow’s medicine,” today.  (If you’re looking for a clinical trial, SurvivorNet can help. Check out our SurvivorNet Clinical Trial Finder.)

What is a Clinical Trial?

A clinical trial is a research study involving volunteers that looks into using new drugs or therapies. The goal of these studies is to test if new treatments are safe and effective.

Why I’d Choose a Clinical Trial For Myself

Clinical trials can be an option for people with cancer at many points during the treatment process. Your doctor may have spoken with you about possibly enrolling in a trial if you have advanced disease or if there’s a drug that’s currently considered investigational that may work better than the standard for you.

A lot of patients may feel uncomfortable about the thought of participating in a trial, but the trials can provide amazing opportunities for patients. For one thing, they give patients access to a bevy of new drugs that are currently being developed by pharmaceutical companies.

Things to Consider

In the U.S., all new drugs have to go through clinical trials before the FDA will approve them. In addition to being potentially live-saving for patients, these trials are also necessary to advance science and cancer treatments.

However, participating in a trial comes with risks as well, and it’s important to talk to your doctor about this before getting involved in one. Some risks to consider are:

• The risk of harm and/or side effects due to experimental treatments
• Researchers may be unaware of some potential side effects for experimental treatments
• The treatment may not work for you, even if it has worked for others

Still, joining a clinical trial comes with benefits as well. You will be given access to treatments that could be life-saving, but simply haven’t made it through the approval process yet.

If participating in a clinical trial is something you think you may be interested in, the government has a list of trials that are currently ongoing. SurvivorNet also has a tool to help you find trials for your particular disease.

FDA Guidelines on Mammograms & Dense Breasts

For women with dense breasts, meaning they have more fibroglandular tissue and less fatty breast tissue, like Pam Minick, it can be more difficult for mammograms to locate breast cancer due to the dense tissues.

RELATED: How to Avoid False Positive Cancer Results in Women With Dense Breasts: Ultrasounds Used in Addition To Mammograms 

Thankfully, a rule was put into effect on September 10, 2024, by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), requiring women undergoing mammograms, which screen for breast cancer, to be notified of their breast density.

The rule calls for the mammography report to include a breast density assessment section. The report will have the following categories:

• “The breasts are almost entirely fatty.”
• “There are scattered areas of fibroglandular density.”
• “The breasts are heterogeneously dense, which may obscure small masses.”
• “The breasts are extremely dense, which lowers the sensitivity of mammography.”

RELATED: For Women Like Katie Couric, New Study Reveals That Changes in Breast Density Can Raise The Risk For Cancer; Know When & How To Get Crucial Screenings

The report will also explain if a woman’s breast tissue is dense, the dense breast tissue makes cancer more challenging to detect in a routine mammogram.

The dense tissue has a “masking effect on how well we can perceive cancer and find cancer on mammograms,” Dr. Cindy Ly, a radiology doctor at NYU Langone Medical Center, previously told SurvivorNet.

Understanding Your Mammogram Report and Breast Density

A radiologist reading mammograms categorizes breasts into four different categories using the Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System (BI-RADS), a classification system developed by the American College of Radiology (ACR). These include:

• Fatty breast tissue: These breasts are mainly composed of fat with very little dense tissue. Found in less than 10% of women, fatty breasts appear dark on mammograms.
• Scattered fibroglandular breast tissue: These breasts contain a mix of fatty and dense tissue (composed of glands and fibrous tissue). On a mammogram, they have dark areas (fatty tissue) intermixed with light areas (dense tissue). Around 40% of women have breasts that fall in this category.
• Heterogeneously dense breast tissue: This type of breast tissue has many areas of dense tissue and some areas of fat. Found in 40% of women, these breasts look mostly light, with some dark areas on a mammogram.
• Extremely dense breast tissue: Such breasts are almost entirely composed of dense glandular and fibrous connective tissues with very little fat. They are found in 10% of women and appear light on mammograms.
  Your breasts are usually called dense on a mammogram report if they fall within the heterogeneously dense breast tissue or the extremely dense breast tissue categories.

WATCH: When You’re Getting a Mammogram, Ask About Dense Breasts

Additional screening methods are helpful for women with dense breasts because glandular tissue appears white on mammograms. Cancer and other abnormalities also exhibit a similar appearance. The “frosted glass” effect from the glandular tissue can thus mask cancerous areas, especially nascent ones.

Undetected, these cancers can progress, growing large and advanced. They will then likely require more intensive treatments to cure or can become incurable altogether.

Additional Screening for Dense Breasts

Women with dense breasts may not know they have it based on feeling alone. Breast density is determined by its appearance on a mammogram. Dr. Connie Lehman, the chief of the Breast Imaging Division at Massachusetts General Hospital, explains to SurvivorNet that fatty breast tissue appears gray on an X-ray.

Conversely, dense breast structures appear white during an X-ray. Cancers also appear white on an X-ray, meaning the dense breast structures can mask the possibility of cancer. Luckily, advanced mammograms exist to help doctors navigate this obstacle.

WATCH: 3D Mammograms explained.

“Digital mammography, it turns out, significantly improves the quality of the mammogram…It’s 3D or tomosynthesis mammography,” Dr. Lehman explains.

“This allows us to find more cancers and to significantly reduce our false-positive rate. With digital mammography 3D tomosynthesis, we’re taking thin slices through that breast tissue, like slices of a loaf of bread. We can look at each slice independently rather than trying to see through the entire thickness of the entire loaf of bread. So those thin slices help us find things that were hidden in all the multiple layers,” Dr. Lehman adds.

Additional testing can be considered for dense breasts, depending on a woman’s personal history, preferences, and her physician’s guidance. These tests include:

• 3-D Mammogram (Breast Tomosynthesis): This technology acquires breast imaging from multiple angles and digitally combines them into a 3D representation of the breast tissue. This allows physicians to see breast tissue architecture better, even in dense breasts. 3D mammograms are fast becoming the standard way of performing mammography.
• Breast Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI): An MRI machine uses magnets to create highly detailed, intricate images of the breast. These are mostly reserved for women with an extremely high breast cancer risk. Dense breasts alone may not be a valid reason to obtain a breast MRI. However, dense breasts in women with genetic mutations, like BRCA1 and BRCA2, or a strong family history of breast cancer could justify obtaining breast MRIs.
• Molecular Breast Imaging (MBI): MBI is a newer imaging technique that uses a radioactive tracer to detect breast cancer. It is beneficial for women with dense breasts. However, MBI is not as widely available as other screening methods.

With the help of the FDA’s new rule, facilities offering mammograms will need to inform patients about their breast tissue density and recommend they speak with a doctor to determine if further screening is necessary. There will be “uniform guidance” on what language to use and what details to share with the patient to make the communication clear and understandable.

WATCH: Breast Cancer Surgeon Lays Out Ways We Can Close the Gap in Racial Disparity.

The Exact Cause Of Dense Breasts In Not Fully Understood

Why certain women are born with dense breasts while others aren’t is not always known. However, it is likely that several factors contribute to a woman’s breast cancer density.

Genetics is a likely contributor to breast density. If women in your family have a history of dense breasts, you are more likely to have similarly dense breast tissue. However, genetics is not the only reason.

Levels of estrogen and progesterone, two hormones that are essential to female health and reproduction, may also influence breast density. Pre-menopausal women who tend to have higher levels of these hormones have denser breasts than post-menopausal women, who have lower hormonal levels. By extension, women who take hormone replacement therapies after menopause may unwittingly increase their breast tissue density.

Age is another determinant of breast density. Younger women tend to have denser breasts than older women. Body weight also impacts density, with women with lower body weight (by extension, low body fat percentage) possessing more dense breasts than those with higher body weight.

Additionally, it’s unknown whether women can directly change their breast density to decrease their risk for cancer.

There is evidence that diet and lifestyle factors influence breast density, with women with more body fat accumulating fat within their breasts, which lowers their breast density.

RELATED: Your Breast Density Is Not Static; The Way It Changes Over Time May Reveal Your Breast Cancer Risk

However, gaining weight just to decrease breast density may be counterproductive. Robust scientific studies have repeatedly shown that maintaining a healthy weight through diet and physical activity lowers the risk of any cancer. Thus, any benefit of a decrease in breast density through an increase in body fat is likely more than offset by the increased risk of cancer associated with being overweight or obese.

The Importance of Breast Cancer Screenings

Mammograms are used to screen for breast cancer. Women who haven’t gone through menopause are encouraged to get a mammogram annually between the ages of 45 and 54. If you have experienced menopause, you can get a mammogram every two years.

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends women begin screening for breast cancer at age 40. Women should talk with their doctor to learn about their cancer risk and assess when a good time is to start annual mammograms.

WATCH: Understanding the BRCA gene mutation

“We all agree regular screening mammography saves lives,” Dr. Connie Lehman, a professor at Harvard Medical School, told SurvivorNet.

Suppose you fit into the high-risk category for breast cancer, meaning a close family relative has been diagnosed. People at higher risk may have the BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene mutation or had radiation to the chest area when they were young. In cases like this, people in the high-risk category should begin annual mammograms at 30 years old.

Leading Experts Urge Patients to Be Proactive

As we highlight in several areas of SurvivorNet, highly respected doctors sometimes disagree on the right course of treatment for an ailment, and advances in medicine are always creating new options. Also, in some instances the specific course of treatment is not clear cut.

That’s even more reason why understanding the potential approaches to your disease is crucial.

Cancer Research Legend Urges Patients to Get Multiple Opinions

Furthermore, getting another opinion may also help you avoid doctor biases. For example, when seeking care for cancer, some surgeons may have an affiliation with a radiation center.

“So there may be a conflict of interest if you present to a surgeon that is recommending radiation because there is some ownership of that type of facility,” Dr. Jim Hu, director of robotic surgery at Weill Cornell Medical Center, previously told SurvivorNet.

Other reasons to get a second opinion include:

• To see a doctor who has more experience treating your type of disease
• You have a rare disease
• There are several ways to treat your illness
• You feel like your doctor isn’t listening to you, or isn’t giving you good advice
• You have trouble understanding your doctor
• You don’t like the treatment your doctor is recommending, or you’re worried about its possible side effects
• Your insurance company wants you to get another medical opinion

Bottom line, being proactive about your health could be a matter of life or death. Learn as much as you can from as many experts as you can, so that you know that you did your best to take control of your health.

Contributing: SurvivorNet Staff

Learn more about SurvivorNet's rigorous medical review process.

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