Our Stories

Dr. Nancy Cappello's Story

I did what the medical field and the countless number of cancer advocacy groups told me. I ate healthy, exercised daily, had yearly mammograms AND had no first-degree relative with breast cancer. Little did I know at the time that there was information about my health and my life that was being kept from me – the patient – and others like me. I call it the best-kept secret - but it WAS known in the medical community. I have dense breast tissue – and women like me (2/3 of pre-menopausal and 1/4 of post menopausal) have less than a 48% chance of having breast cancer detected by a mammogram.

In November 2003 I had my yearly mammogram and my “Happy Gram” report that I received determined “no significant findings”. Two months later at my annual exam in January, my doctor felt a ridge in my right breast and sent me for another mammogram and an ultrasound. The mammogram revealed “nothing” yet the ultrasound detected a large 2.5 cm tumor, which was later confirmed to be stage 3c breast cancer.

So on February 3, 2004 my life changed when I heard those dreaded words, “You have cancer.” I asked what most women would ask – thinking that I was an educated patient - “Why didn’t the mammogram find my cancer”? It was the first time that I was informed that I have dense breast tissue and its significance. What is dense tissue, I asked? Dense tissue appears white on a mammogram and cancer appears white – thus there is no contrast to detect the cancer (It is like looking for a polar bear in a snowstorm). I asked my physician why wasn’t I informed that I have dense breast tissue and that mammograms are limited in detecting cancer in women with dense breast tissue? The response was “it is not the standard protocol.” So I went on a quest – for research – and found that there have been 7 major studies with over 42,000 women that demonstrate that by supplementing mammograms with ultrasounds increases detection from 48% to 97% for women with dense tissue. I also learned that women with dense tissue have a 5x greater risk of getting breast cancer. We have double jeopardy – a greater risk of having cancer AND are less likely to have cancer detected by mammography alone.

I endured a mastectomy, reconstruction, 8 chemotherapy treatments and 24 radiation treatments. The pathology report confirmed – stage 3c cancer - because the cancer had traveled outside of the breast - to my lymph nodes. Eighteen lymph nodes were removed and thirteen contained cancer – AND REMEMBER -

a "normal" mammogram just weeks before. Is that early detection?

So, how many women are like me and had normal mammograms and may have a hidden intruder stealing their life? That question has perplexed me since my diagnosis and I am on a quest to expose this best-kept secret of dense breast tissue to ensure that women with dense breast tissue receive screening and diagnostic measures to find cancer at its earliest stage.  Please join the breast density inform movement by supporting the work of Are You Dense, Inc. to ensure that ALL women have access to an early breast cancer diagnosis.  Early Detection saves lives and spares the life-long anguish of families whose love-ones die prematurely from breast cancer that goes undetected, even with yearly screening.  Hence, cancer is not found until it is large enough to be felt and subsequently determined to be at a later stage where survival is low.