After her breast cancer surgery, Tia struggled with mobility in her left shoulder. It felt as though the joint was frozen, and she could feel some swelling in her chest. After several dead ends, she learned that this feeling may be caused by early-stage lymphedema. This condition is a common side effect of breast cancer … Read more
Kirsten Dahl knows plenty about targets, so when she was diagnosed with an aggressive form of HER2+ breast cancer, she devised her own unique brand of targeted cancer therapy. In addition to heeding the advice of her medical team, Dahl focused on the one thing she most missed to help her get through nearly two … Read more
In recent decades, rates of some cancers, such as colorectal cancer, have been rising in young adults under the age of 50. One possible explanation for this rise is a parallel rise in obesity rates and changes in diet, activity levels and lifestyle. However, says Kimmie Ng, MD, MPH, director of Dana-Farber’s Young-Onset Colorectal Cancer … Read more
Just like genetic and lifestyle factors, the composition of breasts can affect a person’s risk of developing breast cancer in their lifetime. Although it’s not yet known why, people with dense breasts have a higher risk for breast cancer. Breast density is a measure of how much glandular and fibrous tissue there is in the … Read more
Between 2000 and 2021, breast cancer rates in people under 50 of Asian or Pacific Islander decent rose by nearly 50%, from 36 to 55 cases per 100,000, with sharper increases between 2020 and 2021. Rates of breast cancer in young people are known to be rising in general, but this rate increase, according to … Read more
As we age, we may turn down the volume on our music and dial down the number of late nights, but deep inside our bodies, expression levels of a gene called midkine are ratcheting upward. This uptick appears to have impact on our health. New work from the Dana-Farber lab of breast cancer researcher Kornelia … Read more
When breast cancer metastasizes, it often heads for the brain, where it can be exceptionally difficult to root out. The key to preventing the spread of the cancer, or thwarting it if it does reach the brain, is to understand the mechanism that turns stationary tumor cells into nomadic intruders. In a recent study, a … Read more
Andrea Baxter remembers talking with girlfriends prior to her first mammogram in February 2023, just four months after her 40th birthday. “We joked about how these routine scans were a sign of getting older,” she recalls. “Nobody thought anything bad would come from them.” From working in the insurance field, Baxter knew that mammograms — … Read more
After treatment for early-stage breast cancer, patients are eager to get back to their normal lives. Most, however, are prescribed five or more years of hormone therapy, such as estrogen-blocking medicines, to help keep the cancer from coming back. These medicines can cause menopause-like symptoms even in people who are decades away from menopause. Symptoms … Read more
When Shirley Joseph met her future husband, Mike Joseph, on the set of one of her music videos in 2021, she had already proven herself as a tenacious entrepreneur. When the COVID-19 pandemic brought the music industry to a halt a year prior and ended talks between Shirley and a major record label, she turned … Read more
Overall survival of breast cancer has improved for everyone in the U.S. in recent years, but the pace isn’t the same for all groups of people. Some groups still experience dramatic disparities. For example, according to the American Cancer Society: Dana-Farber wants to close these gaps so that everyone benefits equally from high-quality care and … Read more
Clinical trials assess new medicines to ensure they are safe and effective and to find out which patients they are most likely to benefit. However, clinical trials often enroll few people of color for a constellation of reasons related to historical marginalization of certain groups. Systemic marginalization can result in lower levels of income, fewer … Read more
When Sandra Noack returned home from a visit to Bogota, Colombia, to visit her family, there was a letter waiting for her. It was a leaflet sent via the Massachusetts Department of Public Health describing a clinical trial at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute for Latina and Hispanic breast cancer survivors. The trial didn’t involve any medicine. … Read more
Runners call it Heartbreak Hill, but for Michelle O’Brien the long, rising stretch of pavement that crosses the 20-mile point of the Boston Marathon® route represents the top of the mountain. Just over three years after being diagnosed in back-to-back months with two unrelated cancers — invasive breast cancer in December 2020, and then stage … Read more
Thirteen years after Vici Robinson was treated for estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer, she began experiencing shortness of breath. Her local physicians in New Hampshire determined her symptoms came from liquid that was filling her lung. Then came the shocking news that this was caused by a breast cancer recurrence which had metastasized. At 81, Robinson … Read more
When Meghan MacDonald visited her primary care provider in the fall of 2022 to get a lump in her breast examined, they confirmed her suspicion that it was just an inflamed cyst. Relieved, MacDonald began a course of antibiotics, but when the lump didn’t go away, her doctor ordered a mammogram, and when the results … Read more
Ruth Nelson struggled with her new breast cancer diagnosis mentally and physically. On treatment, her cardiac health faltered, her blood pressure spiked, and she experienced an unexplained episode in which she briefly lost her speech. And on top of that, she felt as if she were “a problem to be managed” by her friends and … Read more
After treatment at Dana-Farber, Dena Ofengeim was able to get on her bike, train with her friends, and complete the Pan-Mass Challenge.
Over the past 30 years, outcomes have improved dramatically for women with breast cancer. There are many new treatments, including hormone therapies and CDK4/6 inhibitors. In contrast, there has been no improvement in the outcomes for men with breast cancer. And current guidelines don’t support the use of newer therapies in men. “If we do … Read more
As a veteran scuba diver who has donned her wetsuit around the globe, Stephanie Lafontaine is never more at peace than when deep below the water’s surface. Even if she’s sharing the depths with sharks, she considers it her happy place. So when Lafontaine, 42, learned in April 2019 that she had inflammatory breast cancer … Read more