Breast cancer is often associated with older women. The latest statistics on breast cancer show that 83% of breast cancer cases occur in women over 50 years old. In fact, age is a risk factor of developing breast cancer, with ones risk increasing, the older they get. The rates of breast cancer increase after 40 years old and peak at 70 years old.

I remember sitting in the small room waiting for the doctor to come in.  I was nervous but didn’t think anything was wrong.  The doctor came in and asked how I was.  I gave my usual cheery response that everything was good but added that “it depended on what he was going to tell me…ha ha ha”.  I laughed but my jovial manner quickly subsided when my doctor sat down and the words “it’s not good” came out.  My heart dropped.  He then said, “It’s cancer”.  My heart dropped again.

In August 2015 when Tanya Figg of Coaldale, Alberta was six months pregnant with her second child, she was diagnosed with Stage III invasive mammary breast cancer.  Her immediate thought was “what did this mean for me and my family?”