A routine follow-up appointment likely saved the life of 72-year-old Barbara Sandon Norris of Cleveland. In May, she celebrated seven years cancer-free and had just received a clean mammogram. Feeling confident, she almost skipped her annual visit to the Cleveland Clinic Breast Center.
“I thought I was cancer-free. I had a clean mammogram, so why go?” she said. Still, she decided to meet her new physician assistant, Molly Greenhouse, who was taking over her care.
During the exam, Greenhouse noticed a small asymmetry between Norris’s breasts. Even though the mammogram from earlier that month showed no problems, she ordered an ultrasound. That test also appeared normal.
But Greenhouse stayed concerned. She urged Norris to get an MRI with contrast. Norris hesitated, but Greenhouse pushed for the scan.
“She wasn’t letting it go,” Norris said.
The MRI in mid-June found what the other tests missed: DCIS, or ductal carcinoma in situ. This early-stage breast cancer was in Norris’s right breast — the opposite side from her original cancer in 2018.
Doctors reviewed three years of previous mammograms and could still not find any sign of the cancer. On the MRI, it appeared as a wide “debris field” of irregular cells, not a single lump.
Because the affected area was large, Norris had a mastectomy on July 28. She is scheduled for reconstruction in November.
The new diagnosis led to genetic testing, which showed she carries a CHEK2 mutation. This gene increases a woman’s chance of breast cancer by 22 to 44 percent. It may also explain Norris’s thyroid cancer in 1987 and her past cervical cancer. She has now shared this information with her two sons, since the mutation can raise prostate cancer risk in men.
Her surgeon, Dr. Al Hilly, asked to photograph her breasts for medical training. Norris agreed, hoping the images would help other clinicians learn how breast cancer can hide on standard tests.
Norris now speaks publicly about her experience. She wants women to know that mammograms, while important, are not perfect.
“Trust your body. Get your yearly mammogram,” she said. She encourages women with dense breasts to ask about MRI screening. She also recommends using an online cancer risk assessment test and considering genetic testing if a doctor advises it.
She warns women not to accept advice to delay screenings. “Don’t let someone tell you every other year is enough. That didn’t work out well for me.”
Norris also learned something else after her surgery. The 1998 Women’s Health and Cancer Rights Act requires Medicare to cover both mastectomy and breast reconstruction, including surgery to make the other breast symmetrical — a benefit she did not know existed.
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