Researchers with the National Cancer Institute said by 2030 the number of women diagnosed with breast cancer will increase by 50%.
“Regardless whether you have a history or not it’s still devastating, you know you think about so many things, your children, my husband, being a mother and wife,” explained Tracey Dillihunt Monday afternoon.
Dillihunt said she knows firsthand the effects of breast cancer.
Not only was she a six-year survivor, her two sisters were also diagnosed before her.
While breast cancer has been part of Dillihunt’s life for years, she was still surprised to hear cases were predicted to increase by 50% in the next 15 years.
But breast cancer researcher Dr. Gregory Vidal of the West Cancer Center said the study was pretty on point with the trends he’s been seeing.
“We sort of expected those numbers to come up,” explained Vidal.
Vidal cited a few reasons for the increase including longer life expectancy and more screening that allowed doctors to catch very early stage growths that down the road might not require treatment.
Dr. Vidal, who has dedicated his life to research, said he didn’t want the numbers to scare people.
“Anything that brings attention to it is a plus in my book. What I don’t want to happen is for people to overreact by seeing the numbers,” he said.
Vidal explained a big part of the increase in the study comes from doctors detecting stage 0 breast cancer or abnormal cells.
“Some people wouldn’t even consider it breast cancer,” he said.
Vidal also pointed out the study predicted the number of aggressive breast cancer tumors will drop by 10%, which was good news.
“Those tumors tend to affect younger women and those tumors tend to take your life,” explained Vidal.
Studies showed one in eight women were predicted to have breast cancer.
Dillihunt said she hoped the study would bring awareness and help the millions of people affected by breast cancer.
“If you don’t have breast cancer, you’re going to know someone that has it,” she said.
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