Human papillomavirus. It’s a mouthful. HPV for short. But what is it?

When I was first diagnosed with breast cancer in August 2011, I was just 31 years old. I didn’t know what my future held, but I knew I wanted to be a mom.

After receiving a breast cancer diagnosis, there are a thousand things going through your mind. The order of thoughts may differ from person to person, but if you are a young woman, one thing likely at the forefront is “Will I still be able to have children?”

You know how you feel when you get a new outfit that you just know brings out all your best features? That’s how we here at SurviveAL and our partners at the Gulf States Young Breast Cancer Survivor Network are feeling these days. And it’s all because we have totally revamped our websites and think they are more attractive and easier to use.

Approximately seven to 10 percent of breast cancers are due to hereditary cancer susceptibility syndromes. It is estimated that more than half of these are due to pathogenic variants (or, in other words, mutations) in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes. Many young breast cancer survivors have heard of the importance of genetic testing for BRCA1 and BRCA2, but you may not know that testing is available for the other genes related to hereditary breast cancer as well.

Are you aware that knowing your gene mutation risk could possibly save your life? Certain gene mutations greatly increase your risk of developing breast cancer and ovarian cancer, and can be inherited from either your mother or father.

The type and severity of the side effects that women experience after treatment for breast cancer depend a lot on your specific diagnosis and what treatments that you received.

In July, 2016, at the ripe old age of 27, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. I first noticed a lump in my breast in early June while I was performing a breast self-examination. Initially, I thought it may have been hormonal changes due to my menstrual cycle, but when the lump did not shrink/go away by the beginning of July, I had it examined. At first, my gynecologist thought the lump was a cyst, but he sent me to get a mammogram anyway because of my family history. Within five days of my first visit, and after a mammogram, ultrasound, and biopsy, I was diagnosed with Stage 1 breast cancer.