On a sunny winter day, Caitlin Pietz stood in front of a small metal bell as a stream of sunlight cascaded through the windows beside her. With her husband Mark at her side, she gripped the chain that hung from the bell and paused for a moment as her loved ones watched.
Breast Cancer
“I was already familiar with Roswell Park and knew from family and friends that it’s a cancer hospital with an excellent reputation.”
Fortunately, Roswell Park had a clinical trial that Edith participated in, and that made her cancer go away in both her breast and lymph nodes.
“As soon as I called Roswell Park and explained my situation, I immediately felt like I was more than just a number,” Jennifer recalls.
“Nowadays, with certain types of breast cancer, people more often get medical therapy before surgery."
"Until I had cancer myself, I never understood how gestures like visiting, bringing food, offering to shop, and asking friends how you could help them really made a difference while they are going through treatment."
Jenna Wier was no stranger to breast imaging when she walked into her appointment at Roswell Park Hematology Oncology Northtowns in the fall of 2021.
“I never said I’m a survivor. I beat the disease.”
Feeling a lump in the skin of the breast is scary, but before you jump down the rabbit hole of what this could mean, there are a few important symptoms and risk factors to recognize first.
“People generally get a combination of local treatments that directly affect the breast such as surgery and radiation, as well as systemic therapy, or medical treatments that affect the whole body.”
"I want as many days and as many hockey games as I can get.”
If cancer runs in a family, there may be an inherited factor that increases the risk of younger generations in that family developing cancer.