Historically, Japanese women were much less likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer than American women. However, as Western lifestyles become a part of everyday life in Japan, breast cancer rates are on the rise.

Three days after Emily’s 19th birthday, she received the devastating news that she had stage 3 malignant melanoma, one of the most serious forms of skin cancer. She was given less than a 59 percent chance of surviving the next five years. In a state of shock, she felt her only options were fight or flight – to face her diagnosis head-on or to live in fear – and she chose to fight.

You may find it tough to discuss some aspects of cancer, both physical and emotional, with someone who has not been through the same struggles. Cancer coaches provide a unique level of empathy and understanding by sharing their own experiences as cancer survivors.

Because BRCA mutations are strongly linked to breast and ovarian cancer, they have been studied more widely in women than in men — and women are more likely than men to be referred by their doctors for genetic testing. But BRCA mutations are associated with many types of cancer, and men are also at risk.

A new agent, gallium-68 dotatate (Netspot^®), recently FDA-approved and available at Roswell Park, can be used as a PET tracer instead of the glucose to identify carcinoid tumors—even very small lesions—significantly better than any currently available imaging.

I hope my story can help someone else, especially other young moms. So many people are depending on you, and it can feel so overwhelming. You’re tired and emotional, but you have to be strong in front of your kids. You don’t want them to worry, and that alone makes it doubly exhausting.