Early Stage Breast Cancer
- ESPN host Hannah Storm, 62, who was diagnosed with stage zero breast cancer earlier this year, has said she is “grateful” she didn’t have to miss much work at the time and is back at it covering another NBA draft and doing what she loves.
- The sports journalist learned she had stage zero breast in January after undergoing an ultrasound and a biopsy following a routine mammogram. Storm considers herself “very, very lucky” to have discovered the early-stage breast cancer and has been raising awareness ever since.
- When faced with cancer, no matter what stage or even if it’s just a false alarm, the experience can often shift a person’s perspective and how much they squeeze out of life. Many appreciate their families and careers more, or simply just start trying to seize the day every day with a fresh outlook.
- Screening for breast cancer is generally recommended and thought of as a good thing. However, the issue with screening is that not all doctors agree that every cancer that is detected needs to be treated, or that the benefits of treatment outweigh the side effects. From the patient’s perspective, when most people are told they have cancer, they want it out.
The SportsCenter co-anchor learned she had stage zero breast in January after undergoing an ultrasound and a biopsy following a routine mammogram. Storm considers herself “very, very lucky” to have discovered the early-stage breast cancer and has been raising awareness ever since.
Read MoreAwaiting pick #55..(Never thought I’d say that!) @LegsESPN @KendrickPerkins @ZachLowe_NBA pic.twitter.com/kqxqPM05Li
— Hannah Storm (@HannahStormESPN) June 27, 2024
The award-winning veteran sports journalist, who has been at the ESPN network for over 16 years, shared a post on X that she was “awaiting pick #55.. (Never thought I’d say that!)” she joked, referencing the draft pick of L.A. Lakers legend Lebron James’ son Bronny, 19, who indeed got scooped up by his dad’s team.
The NYC-based mom of three, who grew up in Oak Park, Illinois just outside of Chicago, has also been having a lot of fun covering the WNBA and has been proudly posting about her new iHeart Radio podcast show NBA DNA. “So excited for this!” she wrote on her X post on April 1.
Championing a strong work ethic, the University of Notre Dame grad, during an interview with baseball legend Alex Rodriguez, aka AROD, in March, she said: “I know this sounds cliché, but I always tell people to work really hard!”
“Working on dealing with failure, working on dealing with rejection, staying positive and really sticking to, you know, what you want.”
Learning You Have Breast Cancer
When faced with cancer, no matter what stage or even if it’s just a false alarm, the experience can often shift the perspective of one’s life. Many appreciate their families and careers more, or simply just start trying to seize the day every day. It can also give people more of a sense of purpose to help educate on cancer screening and prevention.
RELATED: Singer Sheryl Crow Caught Her Breast Cancer at an Early Stage
Speaking to Good Morning America in March, Storm said she was “shocked” when she learned the news because, again she was diligent about getting her mammogram every year. “I have no risk factors. I have no breast cancer in my family. I did not have a lump. I did not have pain,” she said, also noting that she doesn’t have “any genetic predisposition to breast cancer.”
“And what I came to learn is the vast majority of women who are diagnosed with breast cancer don’t have risk factors, and so I’ve got to say I was shocked. I was scared. I was very, very lucky because they found it so early.”
She continued, noting she hopes to encourage others to get screening for breast cancer, “I know so many people who don’t have mammograms, who are scared to have them.
“I don’t want them to be scared. I want them to be scared not to have this information.”
Breast Cancer Screening and Evolving Opinions on Early-Stage Breast Cancer
Screening for breast cancer is generally recommended, and thought of as a good thing. However, the issue with screening is that not all doctors agree that every cancer that is detected needs to be treated, or that the benefits of treatment outweigh the side effects. From the patient’s perspective, when most people are told they have cancer, they want it out.
Dr. Alana Welm, of the Huntsman Cancer Institute, previously told SurvivorNet that doctors need to find a balance between screening and finding cancers that actually require treatment.
Finding a Balance Between Screening and Treating
Screenings lead to more people being diagnosed with cancer, and some of those cancers may have never caused an issue. Dr. Welm says treating these cancers exposes patients to unnecessary toxicities. Stage zero breast cancer, for example, can get picked up during screening but not all doctors see eye-to-eye on whether it requires treatment or just monitoring.
Workup and Diagnosis of Early Stage Breast Cancer
Most breast cancers, around 90%, are found on screening mammograms, while others are found on self-breast exams or clinical exams by a healthcare provider. If your screening mammogram or breast exam is abnormal and concerning for cancer, you will then be referred for more detailed imaging and workup as follows:
- Typically, a diagnostic mammogram (which is a more detailed mammogram) and a breast ultrasound are performed. The lymph nodes in the axilla (armpit) will be looked at as well
- An MRI may be performed to get additional information
- If the imaging is suspicious, a biopsy is performed of the concerning area in the breast and any suspicious lymph nodes in the axilla (armpit)
- The biopsy, if positive for cancer, is tested for several hormone receptor and protein markers, often referred to as “tumor markers”
- Based on all of the information gathered above, additional imaging may be performed to rule out the spread of distant or metastatic disease
- After all of this information is gathered to provide a detailed picture of your breast cancer and stage the cancer. The staging of the cancer gives information about how large the breast mass is and if it has invaded surrounding tissue. Staging also tells us if the disease has spread to lymph nodes or to distant sites. The other hormone receptor and protein marker tests found in the biopsy tell us the cancer cells’ behavior and potential targeted therapies.
Empower yourself by learning about every aspect of breast cancer
Your healthcare team will use several pieces of information, including your personal health and treatment goals, the stage of breast cancer, and information from the biopsy to come up with personalized treatment recommendations.
How Does This Information Guide Treatment Recommendations?
All of the information described above is analyzed and used by your healthcare team to guide treatment recommendations. To summarize, the information used includes:
- The stage of breast cancer – the extent of the disease and where it has spread
- The histology – cells observed under the microscope and their behavior
- Tumor marker testing – the presence or absence of specific hormone receptors or proteins on the cancer cells
- Patient-specific factors – overall health, age, goals of treatment
While all of this information guides general recommendations for treatment, tumor marker testing (presence of ER, PR, HER2) provides options for targeted therapies specific to these markers.
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