00:00In response to the rising number of younger women diagnosed with breast cancer,
00:04the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force in April lowered the recommended age for women
00:09at average risk for breast cancer to start getting mammograms from 50 to 40.
00:14By lowering the screening age, the task force predicted 1.3 cases of death
00:19from breast cancer per 1,000 women over a lifetime of screening could be prevented.
00:24With more women being diagnosed at even younger ages,
00:27the struggle to be taken seriously medically persists for many women in their 20s and 30s.
00:33Maria Costa, 35, of Pittsburgh, said when both her mom and her aunt were diagnosed
00:38with breast cancer in 2021, she asked her gynecologist for a mammogram.
00:43Told she was too young for the screening, even with a long family history of breast cancer,
00:48it was not until one year later, in July 2022, at her next annual visit,
00:53that her doctor felt a lump in her breast.
00:56Even then, my doctor told me I was too young, Costa called,
01:00remembering that her doctor told her the lump was probably not breast cancer.
01:04But she said, you know what? We'll still send you for a diagnostic mammogram.
01:09And even when I went for my diagnostic mammogram, I was told there as well I was too young,
01:14and it's probably not cancer, but we're going to biopsy it anyways.
01:18Shortly after the mammogram, Costa said she was diagnosed with stage 3 invasive lobular carcinoma.
01:25She was 33 years old at the time.
01:27I had to fight for doctors to listen to me, and if I was diagnosed in 2021,
01:32my journey could have been different, Costa said.
01:35I've had an extreme difficult journey since I was diagnosed.
01:39Costa's journey has included a double mastectomy, 16 rounds of chemotherapy,
01:4525 rounds of radiation, being put into medically induced menopause,
01:49undergoing egg freezing, and having multiple surgeries
01:53after developing infections from reconstruction surgery.
01:56She said that while the pamphlets she sees in doctors' offices
01:59and in advertisements for things like wigs for cancer patients
02:02still reflect women in their 50s and beyond,
02:05the reality is that her oncologist is working to open an after-hours clinic
02:10because so many of her patients are still young enough to be working full-time jobs.
02:14Costa noted that her own diagnosis at age 33 has disrupted not only her career
02:20and her financial stability, but also her dream of getting married and starting a family.
02:25I am a single woman. I don't have children, Costa said,
02:30noting that by her estimation, nearly her entire 30s will have been consumed
02:34by her breast cancer diagnosis and treatment.
02:37It is so difficult to be diagnosed in your 30s.
02:40I still have my whole life ahead of me, but so much time was taken for me.
02:45My breasts were amputated.
02:47The rise of women diagnosed with breast cancer before the age of 50
02:51presents its own set of complications compared to women diagnosed in their 50s and beyond,
02:56who may be done having children and have already undergone physical changes, like menopause.
03:01Costa said before she even turned 35, she was experiencing hot flashes
03:06as she was undergoing medically induced menopause and chemotherapy at the same time.
03:11She said she's also had to confront the physical changes to her body as a single woman in her 30s.
03:16After suffering several infections, her breast reconstruction surgery has been put on indefinite hold,
03:22and she said her chest looks deformed as a result of multiple surgeries.
03:27On bad days, I'm like, I'm bald and I don't have a chest, Costa said.
03:32How do I explain that?
03:34If I want a date, how do I have this conversation?
03:37She continued, and everyone's like, oh, well, your person, they'll understand.
03:42And I'm like, really, because I don't like looking at my chest.
03:46Costa said she also has a completely different perspective on what it is like to undergo a double mastectomy,
03:52recalling that she apologized to a friend with breast cancer whom Costa told after her diagnosis.
03:58Oh, well, you're going to get great boobs.
04:01I apologized to her when I was diagnosed, Costa said.
04:05It's not you have your breasts removed and you get a boob job.
04:08No, your breasts are being amputated.
04:10They are being taken against your will, and you are being reconstructed if you choose to be reconstructed.
04:16It's a point echoed by Mariana Robbins, a 41-year-old mom in Charleston, South Carolina,
04:22who underwent a double mastectomy last year after being diagnosed with stage 1 invasive breast cancer
04:28following her first ever mammogram.
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