More young women are being diagnosed with breast cancer. By the numbers, rates of breast cancer in women under 50 have increased more than 15% in the last two decades.TMJ4's Lighthouse team sat down with a young breast cancer patient and talked to a local oncology expert to understand what may be fueling this unsettling trend.It was around this time, last fall, that Sara Lord and her daughters purchased pink ribbon cookies. It was a fundraiser for a friend who'd recently beaten breast cancer and Sara thought it could be a teachable moment. "We were looking at what breast cancer was and some of the signs, and that was when something clicked in my head," recalled Sara. "Some of these symptoms and signs to look for are things that I have noticed."Soon after Sara got a mammogram at Aurora's West Allis Women's Pavilion and immediately was sent to get an ultrasound. "They didn't even let me go home," she added. "We did the ultrasound, which turned into a biopsy. Even before the biopsy results came in, they knew, because of what it looked like on the screening. They knew it was cancer."With no family history, Sara was diagnosed with Stage 2 breast cancer on November 9th, 2023. "I was 36 years old, never had an inkling that I had cancer growing inside of me at the time," she said, adding that the confirmation sent her into a panic attack. "And the biggest thing was, one of the nurses held my hand the whole time, and she just told me, this is not a death sentence. And in that moment, I really thought it was," continued Sara. "I really thought I'm going to die. I'm not going to see my girls turn 10 years old. I'm not going to be here for middle school, for high school, for their wedding." Sara says her team, including Dr. Nicole Zaremba, swooped in and explained what they would do to fight this. "Sara had one of those hormone receptor-positive breast cancers," explained Dr. Zaremba. "It's one of those that we're seeing more commonly in these younger women.Dr. Zaremba says she is diagnosing more women in their 30s and even their 20s. reflecting a growing trend in the United States. "Their incidence has increased by double, compared to that of women over 50," she said. "So that is a rather significant increase."Given that trend, Dr. Zaremba has a message she wants younger women to hear. "We recommend that most women start screening at the age of 40, and some women, depending on their overall lifetime risk, should start even earlier than that," she explained. "It might not be with a mammogram, it might be with screening MRI's, ultrasounds, or just clinical exams."Dr. Zaremba says a majority of the younger women she treats have breast cancers that feed off of estrogen. She pointed out, that no one thing causes breast cancer, but she wants women to think about lowering their estrogen exposure. "Number one, by maintaining a healthy BMI," she said. "Especially as we age, estrogen is less made in the ovaries. It's more made in your peripheral fat. So the more fatty tissue you have on your body, the more estrogen your body is making, and that increases breast cancer risk. Likewise, we know that certain things can increase breast cancer risk, one of them being alcohol, so using alcohol in moderation or not at all, can actually help to reduce breast cancer risk as well." Sara did 16 rounds of chemo, then had a double mastectomy, followed by radiation. She's not yet considered cancer-free. "There's always a fear that it comes back," she said, acknowledging that the anniversary of her diagnosis is drawing near. "I am now 37 so the majority of my friends are in that age range, and I have been pestering them to get screened, get it done. It's just one of those things that like we have to as women, we have to advocate for each other. We have to tell each other our stories." Sara hopes every woman who hears her story remembers this know your body and speak up when something's not right. Below is a visual guide to the warning signs of breast cancer. A warning sign is not always a lump. Dr. Zaremba says nothing is too trivial to get checked out. "It could be a change on the skin. It could be a change to the nipple. It might be inverting. There might be a flattening to the contour, or a dimple somewhere where it wasn't there before. Those types of things do raise suspicion and require some additional testing to be looked at, even if you are younger than 30. We are seeing it in patients even younger than 20 within the last year."Dr. Zaremba added that even though breast cancer is being found more often, the medical community is doing a better job at curing it. "One of the good things to highlight here is, even though we're seeing more breast cancers, especially in that younger population, breast cancer mortality has actually fallen by 44% since 1989 when it hit its peak," she explained. She added that screening for breast cancer and catching it at the earliest possible stage leads to more positive outcomes. "And for women under the age of 40 who may not get that first screening mammogram, yet, it's knowing their bodies, knowing what your breasts normally feel like. And if there's something different, it doesn't hurt to have it checked out."Its about time to watch on your time. Stream local news and weather 24/7 by searching for TMJ4 on your device.Available for download on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and more.Report a typo or error