Webcasts:
KOMO News Special Report: Inflammatory Breast Cancer
In 2006, KOMO-TV reporter Michelle Esteban produced a number of stories about Inflammatory Breast Cancer. Click here to go to the Inflammatory Breast Cancer part of the KOMO (Seattle, Washington) website.
Inflammatory Breast Cancer: Be Informed [August 7, 2007 ] Listen, download, or read the transcript on EverydayHealth.com.
There’s a very aggressive form of breast cancer out there that you and the women in your life need to know about ” inflammatory breast cancer.” Listen in to learn about signs and symptoms of this aggressive form of cancer, how it is diagnosed and what treatments can help prolong survival. In addition, we will cover coping strategies for the moment when you or a loved one faces a diagnosis of inflammatory breast cancer. [The] show features Dr. Massimo Cristofanilli..and Dr. Julie Gralow.
[Audio Podcast]. (2007, August 7). Inflammatory breast cancer: be informed. Retrieved from http://www.everydayhealth.com/cancer/webcasts/inflammatory-breast-cancer-be-informed.aspx
Magazines:
This article, Dangerous Disguise by Lynda Liu, appeared in the April 2001 issue of MAMM. Sadly, MAMM is no longer published. This may be the first article targeted to the general public on the topic of Inflammatory Breast Cancer. Note that the article begins with the story of Marilyn Johnson, the late wife of Owen Johnson founder of the Inflammatory Breast Cancer Research Foundation.
The Other Breast Cancer by A. J. S. Rayl appeared in the May/June 2006 issue of MAMM. Sadly, MAMM is no longer published, but the IBC community is pleased that several articles about Inflammatory Breast Cancer appeared in the magazine.
Newspapers:
Run for Women Spreads Words of Warning, Hope
The best way to tell how inflammatory breast cancer killed one woman and transformed another is to first tell the moral of their stories.
Their lesson is their legacy, one stated simply by a husband who has made it his business to teach others.
”There’s more than one kind of breast cancer,” Owen Johnson says, ”and you don’t have to have a lump to have breast cancer.”
Most women are familiar with the rules of early detection: Regular self-exams and mammograms. Discovering a lump in an exam or an abnormality in a mammogram signals further testing.
“But that’s not the whole story,” warns Johnson, 57, of Anchorage.
Johnson’s wife, Marilyn, never had a lump and never had a spot show up on a mammogram. Neither did Ginny Mason of Goshen, Ind., who ran on Saturday. What they did have was an invisible and deadly disease — inflammatory breast cancer, considered by many the most aggressive form of breast cancer.
Bragg, B. (2002, June 9). Run for women spreads words of warning, hope . Anchorage Daily News (AK), p. A1. There is a small fee for access to the complete article.
Big, Bad, Ugly Cancer
Last spring, Susan Niebur was a breastfeeding mother who thought she was having another bout with a common breast infection called mastitis. Her second son, born in January, refused to nurse on her right breast, and that side had become swollen, red and sore.
When a 10-day course of antibiotics had no effect, the Silver Spring, Md., resident did some research online. Her doctor sent her to Georgetown University’s Lombardi Cancer Center, where a skin biopsy revealed the worst.
What she thought was mastitis turned out to be inflammatory breast cancer, a highly aggressive form of breast cancer that attacks the lymph vessels in the skin and then moves onto the axillary lymph nodes under the armpits before spreading to organs throughout the body.
Niebur’s Toddler Planet blog brings awareness by chronicling her ongoing struggles and successes.
Bethel, B. (2007, October 25). Big, bad, ugly cancer. The Intelligencer / Wheeling News-Register. Link is to full article at no cost.
Survivor Wants People to Know About Different Type of Breast Cancer
There’s nothing funny about cancer.
Or is there?
Wilton resident Denise Horner said she, her family and friends found plenty of reasons to laugh after she was diagnosed with inflammatory breast cancer in August of 2006. When chemotherapy caused her hair to fall out, Horner’s friends and children greeted her with panty hose over their heads.
Beaudette, C. . (2007, October 27). Survivor wants people to know about different type of breast cancer. The Muscatine Journal. Link is to full article at no cost.
Letter to Ann Landers (published February 24, 1999)
I lost my wife of 38 years, the love of my life, to cancer, and now, I feel that her death was my fault. Years ago, she had a bruise on her breast that would not go away, but she refused to see a doctor. After a while, the skin on her breast took on a thick “orange peel” appearance. Despite my pleading, she would not see her doctor about it. More time passed.
She started leaning against walls in order to navigate and thought it was probably an inner-ear infection. She agreed to see the doctor for an antibiotic. After many tests, the doctor determined she had multiple brain tumors that had metastasized from breast cancer.
I’m convinced that if I had dragged my wife to a doctor when I found out the bruise wouldn’t go away, the cancer might have been controllable. Because of neglect, my wife went through two years of radiation and chemotherapy — all the while wondering when the inevitable would occur. We spent that time traveling and doing things we had always wanted to do together.
When we returned from Hawaii last August, my wife began to deteriorate. Caring for her during those last few weeks and watching her slip away as a nightmare. I beg your readers to see a doctor immediately if they detect a bruise that won’t go away or if they find a lump or a mole anywhere. Because we waited too long, I lost my lover, my wife and my pal. -A.V.
Letter written to Ann Landers (published May 11, 1999)
This letter was written after having read the letter published February 24, 1999
I just read the letter in your column from the man who said the skin on his wife’s breast resembled an orange peel. She delayed seeking medical help until it was too late. Please help educate your readers about a little-known killer called inflammatory breast cancer. This type of cancer comes on suddenly and can exist even in the presence of clear mammograms. It spreads rapidly, and if treatment is not given immediately, it is almost always fatal.
Here are the symptoms: The breast becomes red, swollen or warm; there is bruising or discoloration, itching, a rash or swollen lymph nodes under the arm or above the collarbone; the breast develops an orange-peel or ridged appearance, thickness, raised areas or inverted nipples. Often, there is no detectable tumor, just a rash and some pain. Many of the symptoms match those of mastitis, or breast infection, and doctors frequently prescribe antibiotics. Time is wasted while the condition gets worse.
Inflammatory breast cancer is a dreadful disease that affects thousands of women (and men) every year. Tragically, treatment is usually too late, and survival rates are grim. When it is diagnosed quickly, however, there is reason to hope. The best treatment is chemotherapy first, then surgery, if necessary.
Please urge your readers to get prompt medical help for any of the above symptoms. You could save many lives by increasing awareness of this dreadful breast cancer.
– Surviving in Washington, D.C.
Transcript of TV Interview
Partial text of a 1999 story broadcast on NBC Channel 5, Chicago, about IBC and Karen Kirschenbaum and her mother Marilyn.
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