During Breast Cancer Awareness Month, many women start to think more about self exams and mammograms, but it's not just cancer you should be checking for. Kathryn Auger recently found that out the hard way, and it changed her life.
[WEB EXTRA: More on Phylloades tumors | Breast self exam | VIDEO: Extended interview ]
"Doing the normal check, I felt a couple of lumps," Auger told News 6's Louis Bolden.
The lumps ended with a diagnosis of pseudoangiomatous stromal hyperplasia, also known as PASH or Phyllodes tumors.
Phyllodes tumors account for less than 1 percent of breast tumors. When they do occur, it's normally in women in their 40s and 50s. Auger is 29.
It's also rare to get more than one. Auger had 20.
"This was widespread, almost softball-sized tumors, in both breasts that were causing really rapid breast growth," said Dr. Adam Oppenheimer, who is a plastic and reconstructive surgeon with Fiala Aesthestics. He performed two surgeries on Auger.
"My breast had grown to a size that was unimaginable in such a rapid time frame," Auger said.
Social Side Effects
First, there was the social struggle.
Shortly after the diagnosis, Auger and her partner took a vacation to Key West. They took a picture on the beach with Auger in her bathing suit and posted it on social media. Her social media followers were less than kind.
"I had to take the picture down because of the comments that were being made," Auger said with tears streaming down her cheeks.
Then there were the health concerns.
Auger's best option, according to her doctors, was a double mastectomy, because the tumors can be cancerous and can come back.
It was difficult for Auger to hear.
"You're losing a little bit of your femininity and your look," Auger said. "It's very difficult."
Oppenheimer was the plastic surgeon Auger chose for the reconstructive surgery, but he was also part of the first procedure, which lasted six hours.
"We didn't remove the tumors individually. We removed all of the breast tissue, and the tumors all together, in the first surgery," he said.
It was a successful surgery, but afterward, another curve came ball for Auger.
Oppenheimer relocated from a practice in Brevard County to a practice in Orlando. The change put him out of the network coverage area for Auger's insurance. The insurance company wouldn't pay for him to perform the reconstructive surgery, so he decided to do it pro bono.
"It seemed like the right thing to do given I had interrupted our goal, interrupted our process midstream," Oppenheimer said.
And Sientra, the company that makes the implants, donated them.
"Everything was very difficult, very stressful, and this just relieved a little bit of stress from our backs," Auger said.
Auger has now had two successful surgeries and is recovering nicely, according to her doctor.
She urges others to do self-exams.
"Keeping up with your body and yourself and being familiar with your body is definitely priority one," she said.
Mammograms can help you detect tumors before you can feel a lump, so screening is key.
Experts suggest self-examinations once a month.