Breast Cancer Awareness: Age and symptoms

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month across the nation. Many support the cause by wearing pink. All this month, many clinics and organizations will be hosting events and informational sessions for those wanting to learn more.

Karlenn Smith, 38, of Bend is a mother of four. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in July of 2014 after feeling a lump.

“The mammogram that resulted from it,” Smith began. “That’s how we discovered the cancer. It was spread out like stars in the sky. Usually you can see a mass, but it was all over.”

Medical professionals recommend women begin getting mammograms at 40, and regularly after that.

Lumps are not the only signs of breast cancer risks. Skin irritation, nipple pain, sores that will not heal, nipple discharge or dimpling can occur as well.

“That is always something to be concerned about,” James Oncker, MD of radiology at Bend Memorial Clinic, said Tuesday. “Something that’s not healing.”

Smith found out she had Stage 3 breast cancer after receiving her mammogram results. She had no history of breast cancer in her family, and was shocked to learn that she had it at age 38.

“I found out I had been showing signs of it for ages,” Smith said.

Smith underwent a double mastectomy last year. After that, she began six rounds of chemotherapy from August to the middle of December.

In February, she began radiation, finishing at the end of March. She’s now on a medication similar to chemotherapy, but without many of the symptoms, and will be until February of next year.