Statistics show that one-in-eight women in this country develop breast cancer in their lifetime.
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and Dr. Matt Campbell, a General Surgeon at Holy Family Memorial in Manitowoc, tells Seehafer News, “most breast cancer is in women, but men can get it too.”
He said that breast cancer comes about, “when certain cells in the breast start growing out of control and develop the tendency to invade surrounding structures or more concerningly, spread to lymph nodes and to other places in the body. That’s when breast cancer gets life-threatening.”
During an appearance on WOMT’s Be My Guest program, Dr. Campbell explained that most small breast tumors don’t show any symptoms whatsoever.
“They don’t hurt until they are large enough to be pressing on something else or growing into something else,” he said. “Occasionally, it will be sore if you press directly on it, but it’s a tender organ in the first place. So, most women don’t have any symptoms when breast cancers are small and that’s the stage in which we’d like to catch them.”
The HFM physician advises women to do self-breast examinations when they’re in the shower, and if they notice a change, then see their doctor and make sure they’re up to date on their mammograms.
