I feel like everyone I have talked to with breast cancer has some theory as to why this horrible thing happened to them. You can't help but think "what have I done to cause this?". Any social worker, mine included, will likely tell you that you didn't do anything...this is not your fault! As a patient, that's nice to hear but the increasing number of people getting cancer has to be somebody's fault. It's not just chance that 1 in 8 women will develop breast cancer in their lifetime. Everyone has heard that statistic advertised, especially during breast cancer awareness month in October when you can't seem to escape it. The equally as troubling statistic to me is that 2 out of 5 Canadians (45% of men and 42% of women) are expected to develop cancer during their lifetimes. Not only that but the number of new cancer cases in Canada is expected to rise about 40% in the next 15 years, according to a new report – Canadian Cancer Statistics.
Most of the articles with these statistics usually have a subsequent paragraph saying something like "you can reduce your risk of developing breast cancer with early screening and being aware of the risk factors". Unfortunately a lot of women that get breast cancer, especially young women like me, don't have any risk factors. I have no family history, I am not overweight, I was never exposed to radiation as a child, I drink little to no alcohol...the list goes on. So what the hell caused this?
Genetics - I have been tested for the BRCA 1, 2 and P53 gene mutations. Especially if you are triple negative, this is something to ask your doctor about and the sooner the better as the results take some time (mine took about 2 months). Depending on the results, a different chemo may be prescribed, for example, studies show that BRCA positive women might respond better to platinum chemotherapy drugs like Carboplatin.
The Birth Control Pill - I was on the pill for 10 years and had just stopped it 1 year prior to being diagnosed. Coincidence? I think not. Although drug companies obviously aren't publicizing the fact that the pill is linked to an increased risk of developing breast cancer, there are quite a few studies that have shown this and the International Agency for Research on Cancer has now listed it as a known carcinogen.
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/8759578/ns/health-womens_health/t/hormone-pills-added-list-carcinogens/#.VrFeIVMrJ8c
There are a ton of other things that could have caused my cancer, some I will probably touch on in a later post but for now, I will leave you with this really interesting video of Wendy Mesley who is a Canadian journalist that was diagnosed with breast cancer. It is from 2006 but in it she asks a lot of the same questions I am asking today that we still don't have answers for. There is one part where she says "at what point do you stop looking for the easy answers like 'eat your veggies' and tackle the more complicated issue of all the carcinogens that we are eating and breathing and drinking every day?" I couldn't agree more!
http://www.cbc.ca/marketplace/episodes/archives/chasing-the-cancer-answer
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