Jaydene’s story:
“The Young Women’s study offers hope to women like me”
Jaydene was just 27 years old when she was diagnosed with breast cancer in March 2023. Most breast cancer cases occur in women over 50 but for younger women, the disease tends to be more aggressive and have lower survival rates. Thankfully, Jaydene’s treatment was successful, and she has hope that a research partnership between Breast Cancer Foundation NZ and the Universities of Auckland and Otago that you’ve helped to fund will change things for younger women with breast cancer like her.
The Helena McAlpine Young Women’s Breast Cancer Study is a four-year project that is named after the broadcaster who died from breast cancer at the age of 37 in 2015. The aim of the research is to develop a tool to predict how aggressive an individual young woman’s cancer could be, and therefore what treatments could be most effective.
At the start of 2023, I felt like I was at the absolute peak of life. I’d just started a new job and had also started going back to the gym, and then I found a little lump. Never did cancer cross my mind. A month later I noticed the lump was still there, it had become bigger and was a bit sore. I thought I’d better see a doctor and I assumed they’d tell me I was overreacting.
My GP wasn’t concerned about it at all, given my age and health. But she said just to be extra cautious, she’d send me to the breast clinic. After a bunch of tests, they found stage 3 breast cancer that had spread to my lymph nodes. My treatment involved chemotherapy, a mastectomy, and radiation treatment.
I’ve had a lot of shocked reactions to me having breast cancer, a lot of people don’t believe me because of my age. I’ve learnt that cancer doesn’t care how old you are or where you’re at in life.
It’s reassuring we’ve come so far with what we know about breast cancer – I’m living proof that it’s beatable. But it’s scary that breast cancer is worse for younger women, and that it’s not fully known why that is. The Young Women’s Study offers hope to younger women with breast cancer like me.
My biggest fear is that my breast cancer will come back. If research could help to make sure younger women have the best possible treatment for their individual case, they wouldn’t have to live with that fear of recurrence hanging over them.
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Have you been touched by breast cancer and would like to share your story? We’d love to hear more about it.
