It has taken a few years but I can confidently say, I am a Patient Advocate.
This year has presented many opportunities and I am grateful to so many people and organisations for supporting our Breast Density patient advocacy http://www.Beingdense.com
On Monday 10th June we will co-host the first Irish Public seminar to focus specifically on Mammographic Breast Density, with BreastPredict.com the country-wide collaboration between experts in the area of Breast Cancer research, funded by the Irish Cancer Society. We have pre registered to almost full capacity so the response has been amazing and we look forward to an open and informative discussion about Mammographic Breast Density, what women need to know.
The venue is the magnificent Albert Theatre in the Royal College of Surgeons, a beautiful 19th century building in the heart of my native Dublin City. I am personally very excited to be involved and to have this opportunity.
40 % of women have Dense Breasts yet it is not routinely reported to women and is rarely discussed by health practitioners. It’s normal and common to have dense breasts but having dense breast tissue puts a woman at increased risk for getting breast cancer. Having the highest category of breast density is a greater risk factor than having a mother or sister with breast cancer.
When a woman’s breast tissue is dense, it makes it harder to see a cancer on a mammogram. Cancers and normal dense tissue both appear white on a mammogram, so because of the white on white ‘masking effect’ cancers may not show – mammograms miss approx 50% of breast cancer in women with Dense Breasts. Women with fatty breasts are at lower risk and it’s easier to see cancer in a fatty breast.
Beingdense.com want women to know about this and this has prompted my patient advocacy and awareness.
We want all women in Ireland with Dense Breasts to be told, those with consistent/heterogeneously Dense and those with Extremely Dense Breasts should be routinely advised AND offered Supplemental screening such as Breast Ultrasound or MRI.
Looking forward to Monday and the next chapter of my Patient advocacy, hopeful that this Seminar will have a positive impact on Breast Screening policy and inform protocols for all women.
Be smart about Beingdense.com
Being Dense 
You rock star! No pun intended. For those of us who know the difficulty of mammography and radiology in general in finding breast tumors early enough to not become metastatic, like mine, it’s an absolute must to have more women like us out educating, raising awareness, and advocating for those who need our voices. I’m hoping to sit for the first true advocate exam in the US come August or September and I’m doing a webinar for Sharsheret in September as breast cancer related to insurance in the states. Unfortunately the age of regular mammograms has inched up from 40 to 50 and as we are too well aware most dense tissue breast cancers happen between those ages. Not after. If insurance companies don’t cover it we will lose even more souls unnecessarily to metastatic breast cancer. Im so very happy for you. But don’t forget to take care of yoursrkf, too.
💕💕💕
Ilene
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Thanks so much for those lovely kind words.
We must be in touch as I would love to know more about the course on September.
I will let you know how the Seminar goes.
Best to you
Siobhán
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