Breast Cancer Awareness Month: Story of One Survivor

Aurora, Colorado — Things went very well for Stacey Hirschfield.

It was 2012. She was 33 years old and worked as an operating room nurse at the Aurora Medical Center. She and her husband just welcomed their first child, a boy named Austin.

Then she found something strange.

“At that time, I was breastfeeding,” she recalled. “And I noticed a lump. And at first I thought,” Oh, this is breastfeeding, you’re sick and rugged. Maybe that was it. “

But as the weeks went by, the lumps got bigger. She said she felt this was not a breastfeeding issue.

“And I wondered,’What’s this?'” She said.

Hirschfield asked her doctor a question, and said she immediately ordered a test.

“On December 14, 2012, I got a core biopsy result, which was metastatic, invasive, non-invasive ductal cancer,” she said. “They also noticed that the cancer had grown from the tubes to the lymph nodes in my chest.”

Doctors also found nodules in parts of her lungs, Hirschfield said.

“Oncologists actually staged as Stage 4 at that point, and I started my journey with chemotherapy.”

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Hirschfield said her family history of breast cancer was an extension of her relatives. Her son, who was still a baby, started chemotherapy and medication and eventually underwent two mastectomy.

Hirschfield was treated through the Sarah Cannon Cancer Institute.

American Cancer Society says The median age of women at the time of breast cancer diagnosis was 62 years from 2002 to 2016. Risk increases with age.

About 4% of women diagnosed with breast cancer are under the age of 40.

However, young people diagnosed with breast cancer often face a very aggressive illness.

“The youth adult population is defined as people between the ages of 15 and 39. Breast cancer is actually the most common of its age group, with an incidence of about 6%,” Aurora said. Dr. Manoj Bupathi, an oncologist at the Medical Center and Rocky Mountain Cancer Center, explained. “And usually patients who will develop cancer in that age group have some well-known predisposition. They are more prone to more aggressive illnesses. Biological properties are more It tends to be aggressive. The stage of diagnosis also tends to be more aggressive. “

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Because these patients are young, many are still able to give birth, and can survive decades longer than diagnosed, Bhupathi said doctors would consider these factors when considering treatment options. ..

“There’s a lot to do, especially for survivorship,” he explained. “So we’re always focusing on the present, but always looking ahead. We always have social workers and genetic counselors to understand and know that this is a temporary step. We are trying to incorporate it, and our goal is for them to have a normal lifespan in the future. “

Normality often means having a family.

Hirschfield said he knew that more babies could be at risk. Probably not possible.

“The chemotherapy I had to take would put me in the menopause,” she said.[My doctor] Whether menstruation returns after treatment, [the ability to have more children] Or if it was stolen from me. “It was a fight in my brain. At that point I didn’t know if I had a BRCA (breast cancer) gene. I didn’t know if it would be inherited by other children. Austin’s I was there for the sake of, sending another child out into the world, and worried that I might not be there for them. “

Hirschfield said he turned to his faith in search of an answer.

“I just prayed about it. If this happened naturally, it-it happened,” he explained. “And I have Brody now, and he’s three.”

Hirschfield is now 41 years old and is a family of four. And she has been in good health for over five years.

“They always say I’m sick and there’s no evidence of illness. I’m very grateful every day.”

She also continues to work at the Aurora Medical Center, the same hospital where she was a patient. Her cancer journey is an experience she currently shares with her patients, including those facing a diagnosis of cancer.

“I can actually share that hope, you can do this, you are strong and you can really attack it and fight this.”

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October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

“Stay at the top of the screening,” encouraged Dr. Bhupathi. “Mammogram screening saves lives. Mammograms are very important, especially for those who have risk factors and maintain a healthy and balanced lifestyle.

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“If you notice something or something goes wrong, listen to your story and find someone to defend yourself,” Hirschfield added.

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