She died of breast cancer. She said it didn’t have to be that way


Before Tanja Harrison died of breast cancer, he left the world with a terrible message: supplementary detection could have saved his life.

After a routine mammogram in 2021 that made it clear, the woman in New Scotland learned that she had dense breasts and requested a supplementary detection, a magnetic or ultrasound resonance, to ensure that her dense breast tissue did not hide something disastrous.

It can be difficult for mammograms to collect cancers in people with dense breasts because dense breast fabric and abnormal changes in the breasts, such as tumors appear as white areas in images.

Harrison was denied the projection. Two years later, he discovered that he had breast cancer in stage 4 with extensive bone metastasis. They told him it was not curable. The 53 -year -old mother and wife died on December 2.

“He had all the reasons to get angry because the medical care system failed him … but I can say honestly that there was no anger,” said Kim Harris, a 40 -year -old Harrison friend.

“That is quite incredible when you feel and think about it.”

Dense breast fabric can obscure cancer in a mammogram image. (Presented by Dense Breasts Canada)

Harrison’s defenders are being promoted by defenders as an example of why supplementary detection should become standard for dense breasts as several provinces move towards the offer of additional detection.

The dense breast tissue has relatively high amounts of glandular and fibrous connective tissues and relatively low amounts of fatty breast tissue as seen in a mammogram, an radiography used to detect cancer. The density is classified to D, with C and D considering dense breasts.

Breasts with greater density are also more prone to cancer.

Defenders have long argued that ultrasound or magnetic resonances must be regularly provided to dense breasts because they can collect irregularities that a mammogram cannot.

Harrison, a former university librarian, felt that if he had received a supplementary projection when he requested it, he may have had the opportunity to fight for remission.

After his diagnosis, he began working with Defense Group Dense Breasts Canada, counting his history outside the House Province in March 2024 while the liberal opposition MLA Rafah Dicostanzo presented a bill to implement a complementary detection program. The bill did not reach the first reading.

Two women stop in front of a body of water with a horizon of the city in the background. It is night.
Kim Harris, left, and Tanja Harrison, on the right, were friends for more than 40 years. (Sent by Kim Harris)

Harrison’s defense of the cause in the face of his terminal illness and his health in Declive speaks of the type of person he was, Harris said.

“He was so typical tanga, always wanting to pave the way for those who stopped,” said Harris, originally from Nueva Scotia, in a recent interview from his home in Regina.

Historically, Nueva Scotia has been leader in the country when it comes to the detection of breast cancer. It is one of the only two provinces with a high -risk breast cancer detection program.

Patients with dense breasts who have a risk of breast cancer more greater than 25 percent can access mammography and supplementary magnetic resonance detection. The factors that increase the risk of someone’s breast cancer include family health history, whether the patient entails a certain gene and density of breasts.

A smiling woman with long and blond hair is against a black background.
Jennie Dale is a survivor of breast cancer and co -founder of Dense Breasts Canada. (Damien Ouellette)

But Jennie Dale, director of Albacea de Dense Breasts Canada, said that simply having dense breasts should be enough for these patients to obtain supplementary detection.

She said that mammography loses about 40 percent of cancers in women with dense breasts.

“Women must obtain an additional projection, and that is what is being denied,” Dale said in a recent interview. “They are not told that it is not accurate. They are not warned that they need to be attentive if they see something, they feel something. They must be their own defender.”

The Provincial Health Department rejected an interview application.

But in a statement, the New Scotland breast detection program said that ultrasound is not offered as part of any organized detection program in Canada, “since there is not enough evidence to support its use as a modality of supplementary detection for breasts dense in a bosom based on the population cancer detection program “.

“It can be available in certain parts of Canada in private clinics or in other places with the capacity to provide it, but it is not provided as a routine detection test in an organized way,” the statement said.

After a meeting of the Federal, Provincial and Territorial Health Ministers of Canada last week, New Scotland Minister of Health, Michelle Thompson, said the province is adhering to clinical practice guidelines.

“We need to follow science and evidence,” Thompson told reporters when asked about the breast cancer supplementary exam.

“We are not retaining anything, but we are working with those experts who understand science, understand the process and adhere to clinical guidelines.”

That is happening in another place

However, some regions in Canada are moving to offer supplementary detection outside the breast cancer detection programs, and a provincial health committee in Ontario has recommended to finance it publicly.

In a statement, Alberta Health Services said that health professionals should consider an annual breast ultrasound for women with extremely dense breast fabric. These decisions are taken by case.

The Office of the Director of Public Health in the Territories of the Northwest said that Alberta’s best practices are aligned.

The Provincial Health Services Authority of Britanic Columbia said that although its breast detection program does not recommend complementary tests in the form of ultrasound, it is available with a supplier reference.

Supplementary detection is not currently part of the Ontario breast detection program, but people with breasts in category D can talk to their family doctor about being sent for additional detection outside the program, said Health on a statement in a statement in a statement .

In December 2023, Ontario Health, based on the orientation of a Technology Advisory Committee, recommended publicly financing supplementary detection as a complement to mammogram for people with extremely dense breasts.

The Ministry of Health of the Province is reviewing the recommendation. In an email statement, I would not explain at what stage the review is.

A woman who wears a laboratory robe is in front of a hospital entrance.
Dr. Jean Seely is a professor of radiology at the University of Ottawa and the Chief of Mama Image at the Ottawa Hospital. (Michel Aspiotot/CBC)

Jean Seely, Professor of Radiology at the University of Ottawa, was an advisor to the committee.

Seely said the panel determined that, although providing supplementary detection with a large price, up to $ 41 million for five years for IRM, providing care to patients with breast cancer in later stage through treatments such as radiation and chemotherapy It is more expensive.

It also reduces the emotional and physical cost of patients if cancer is previously. According to the Canadian cancer society, it is estimated that approximately one in eight Canadian women will develop breast cancer during their life and another of every 36 will die for it.

“It is worth being able to diagnose women with dense breasts with breast cancer early because it is not only good for them, they are more likely to survive and work well, they also require much less treatment costs,” Seley said in an interview in an interview recent.

“The cost of treatment skirrocks when diagnosis of cancer in stage 3 compared to stage 1: it costs $ 49,000 versus $ 200,000 to $ 300,000 for your life.”

Seley, who also leads the Mama images section at the Ottawa hospital, said the panel reviewed a series of international studies when he reached the recommendation.

But she acknowledged that it has not yet been shown that supplementary detection reduces mortality rates, since it is still being studied and takes time to measure those rates.

However, he feels that women with dense breasts should have the option of a magnetic resonance every two years. It is already happening with references through primary care suppliers in its Ottawa region, he added, although waiting times are long.

Two teenagers have their arms around the other and smile in the camera.
Tanja Harrison, left, and Kim Harris, right, are shown in their younger years. Harris says that music was a great part of Harrison’s life. (Sent by Kim Harris)

Harrison spent some of his last days fighting women with dense breasts to have the option of supplementary detection.

Harris said that the response to her friend’s history has been surprised, and she feels the duty to continue her defense.

“She was very spiritual. We joked about the complicated universe that sends us messages,” said Harris. “Fifteen minutes after she died, I got a very strong sign of her.”

That sign was listening Young forever Come to the radio while moving away in the tanja car, a song that joined in high school.

“I simply know very firmly that she wanted us to do this.”



Source link

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *