{"id":26457,"date":"2020-10-16T17:34:40","date_gmt":"2020-10-16T17:34:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cmshub.wpengine.com\/?p=324692"},"modified":"2024-11-03T15:16:16","modified_gmt":"2024-11-03T15:16:16","slug":"woman-with-breast-cancer-may-have-saved-her-twins-life-by-revealing-her-lumpectomy-scar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/woman-with-breast-cancer-may-have-saved-her-twins-life-by-revealing-her-lumpectomy-scar\/","title":{"rendered":"Woman with Breast Cancer May Have Saved Her Twin\u2019s Life by Revealing Her Lumpectomy Scar"},"content":{"rendered":"

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When Meagan McCallum<\/a> was diagnosed with breast cancer, she had no idea that her experience might actually save her sister\u2019s life. Meagan underwent a lumpectomy and then radiation therapy, followed by a tamoxifen regimen. Shortly after her lumpectomy, she invited her twin sister, Courtney Werner, to visit her.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cBeing that we share pretty much everything, I said, \u2018Do you want to see the incision?’\u201d Meagan recalls. \u201cI showed her the location and she kind of went pale as a ghost. I thought maybe it was because the incision didn\u2019t look very good.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

But Courtney wasn\u2019t reacting to the condition of the incision. This was the moment that she realized that the lump she\u2019d found in the same place in her own chest might be more than just sympathy pains<\/a> for her sister.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Photo: Adobe Stock\/jajam_e<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWhen she showed me her incision, I was absolutely speechless,\u201d says Courtney.<\/span><\/p>\n

Soon afterward, Courtney got tested and learned that she too had a stage I tumor, just slightly larger than Meagan\u2019s, in the same location.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cI wasn\u2019t surprised at all,\u201d Meagan says. \u201cI was upset when I found out Courtney was following the same path, but we are those weird twins where the same thing always happens. We are parallel in almost everything we do.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Now, thanks to early diagnosis and treatment, both Meagan and Courtney are on the road to recovery. In fact, they are both now in remission<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cAll I did was hand her every single doctor card I had,\u201d Meagan recalls. \u201cWhen you\u2019re a twin, you never have to go through anything alone.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The 43-year-old twins have no family history of breast cancer<\/a> and no environmental factors that drastically increase their cancer risk. They even underwent genetic testing and determined that they were not genetically predisposed to cancer. And still, they both developed the disease. It just goes to show that no one is immune from this disease and that we should all<\/em> be doing self-exams and know what to look out for.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now Meagan and Courtney are encouraging others to get checked early and often for breast cancer and to be aware of their risk level and breast density.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Photo: Adobe Stock\/romaset<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cIn younger women and sometimes older women, dense breast tissue can make mammography somewhat suboptimal,\u201d explains Dr. Thomas Yu<\/a>, chairman of the department of radiology at Southern Ocean Medical Center in Stafford. \u201cIt will not detect a certain percentage of small cancers.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s why Meagan also had an ABVS ultrasound<\/a> after her mammogram results came back clear. The ultrasound was able to pick up a small abnormality that the mammogram missed because of her dense breast tissue. It was the ABVS ultrasound that allowed her to get treated while her cancer was still very small and in stage I, and it did the same for her sister.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cBe your own advocate for the testing you think you should have,\u201d says Courtney. \u201cNobody does it better for you than you. Without ABVS, we\u2019d both still have cancer.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The twins also want other sets of twins to know that they might have an increased risk of cancer if their twin does. In the Nordic Twin Study of Cancer, researchers found that in 29 percent<\/a> of identical female twin sets where one twin had breast cancer, the other was diagnosed with breast cancer as well.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s an elevated risk here,\u201d says Dr. Yolanda Tammaro<\/a>, medical director of breast surgery for Southern Ocean Medical Center in Stafford. \u201cOne in eight women will develop breast cancer with no risk factors. When you add in family history and a (first-degree) relative, you are increasing risk.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

So don\u2019t forget to get your recommended screening, do your regular self-checks, and advocate for yourself if you believe something is amiss!<\/span><\/p>\n

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\"Elizabeth<\/p>\n

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Elizabeth Nelson is a wordsmith, an alumna of Aquinas College in Grand Rapids, a four-leaf-clover finder, and a grammar connoisseur. She has lived in west Michigan since age four but loves to travel to new (and old) places. In her free time, she. . . wait, what\u2019s free time?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

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Support those fighting Breast Cancer at The Breast Cancer Site<\/span> for free! \u2192<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n