http://www.redbookmag.com/body/health-fitness/news/a43148/heather-zacek-breast-cancer-milk-duct/
Please take the time to read this article. It's about awareness.
Heather Zacek (who happens to have been a good friend of my cousin) was in her 20s and had a baby. Less than a year after, she discovered a lump. She went to the doctor and they told her she was "young and healthy" and that it was a clogged milk duct. This continued for months as she kept returning to the doctor and kept getting blown off and told to take Tylonel for the pain.
She started experiencing liver issues from, what she thought was, the Tylonel. It turned out that she had stage 4 metastatic breast cancer that had spread to her liver. She died last year.
Her family and friends are spreading the word in order to spread awareness. It's a senseless tragedy. No one bothered to do the scans they should have done when the lump was discovered. She tried desperately to get someone to listen and no one would listen to her. She had no voice. It's time to give her a voice and spread awareness.
Please, please, please be your own advocate, ladies. YOU know your body better than anyone else. If you KNOW something is wrong, tell a doctor. If they won't listen, tell another doctor. Insist, persist and be consistent. Get the answers you seek. In the age of Google diagnoses, doctors can occasionally blow off patients who come in "knowing" what's wrong with them. Don't let them blow you off if you know something is truly wrong.
In honor of Heather Zacek.
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