Charting a Course: Breast Cancer Team Helps 31yo Navigate Through Disease

Editor's Note: This is a four-part series that will be posted every Monday in October in recognition of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. 

You never know where life will take you. 

It is a journey filled with winding roads, some smooth and easily traversed and some with boulders and craters big enough to swallow the traveler whole.

Sometimes, a rough path presents itself, as is true when a cancer diagnosis is made, but with the right navigational tools, the journey can pick up again with the same joy and success.

Anne Rider, now 31, understands that as she plans for her wedding day coming up next fall. 

"We haven’t set a date yet,” she says, "but we’re enjoying this time together as we start to plan.”

The excitement in her voice can’t be hidden, and she surely deserves the delight that comes with planning one’s wedding day after walking away from the hardest battle she’s ever fought.

"I was blindsided when I was diagnosed with breast cancer at just 30 years old,” she says.

Rider’s journey with breast cancer began in April 2014 when she returned from a run and discovered a lump along the line of her sports bra which she had never felt before. "I quickly consulted Google and the results were reassuring—between 80 and 85 percent of breast lumps are benign. 

"However, I feel like I know my body well, and this felt different. I was fairly confident that it was just a cyst but scheduled an appointment to see my family physician,” she says. "He didn’t think it was anything to worry about but set me up to see a breast surgeon at another area health system the following week.

"I remember that appointment like it was yesterday. I sat nervously in the waiting room surrounded by much older women, and I felt very out of place. I was a healthy, young professional, happy in my career and busy with MBA classes. I didn’t feel sick or believe that anything could be wrong.

"My breast surgeon again assured me that cancer was rare in young women as he presented my initial radiology report.  He said that what seemed to be a cyst was symmetrical and would likely resolve on its own. I could wait until July to see if there was any change, or he could try to aspirate the cyst.  For whatever reason, my gut said I wanted whatever I felt to be out of my body—and I’m so glad that I did.”  

Rider says when the doctor put a needle in what was thought to be the cyst, it was solid, and a simple appointment turned into a follow-up for a surgical biopsy. 

"On April 15, 2014, I had surgery to remove a tumor that was 2.9 centimeters. A few days later the pathology report confirmed that I had breast cancer. I was in shock,” she says.

"My mother and aunt are breast cancer survivors, and I had watched their battles with the disease first hand. I had opted not to have a genetic panel done to see if I was genetically predisposed towards breast cancer because I’m adopted. How’s that for irony?”

Rider says the days following diagnosis were a whirlwind of doctor’s appointments, research and worry.

"My prognosis was uncertain and telling the people that you love that you have cancer is the most difficult conversation.”