Tonia Hines discovered her breast cancer during her first mammogram at the age of 40. Hines, now 42, is a participant in The Wellness Community support group at The Dimock Center.

The results of her biopsy came as a shock to Tonia Hines.

She was told that she had calcium deposits in her right breast, but was not quite sure what that meant. She had seen the results of her mammogram and saw the white specks on the film that her doctors considered suspicious.

But word that she had breast cancer was the last thing she expected to hear.

“She can’t be talking to me,” Hines recalled, referring to her doctor. “Who is she talking to?”

The doctor was definitely talking to Hines, but Hines was having none of it.

After all, she had no known behavioral risk factors and no family history of breast cancer.

More important, she didn’t have the usual symptoms.
“How could I have cancer?” Hines said. “I didn’t have a lump.” Full story

A survivor’s story of persistence

Regular exercise has been a part of Kommah McDowell’s life for as long as she can remember. Kickboxing was her sport of choice and according to her doctors, enabled her to withstand potentially devastating treatments.

In January 2005, she found a lump about the size of a marble in her right breast. She initially thought it was a cyst that usually came and went with her menstrual cycle.

Just to make sure, she went to her primary care physician, who assured her that it was nothing serious. But McDowell had other thoughts.

Full story