We recommend that listeners exercise self-care when listening to this podcast, as some may find the content upsetting.

Let’s be Upfront about being a young woman and experiencing a breast cancer diagnosis. Breast cancer is the most diagnosed cancer in young women in Australia and it’s estimated nearly 1,000 young women will be diagnosed each year, meaning 3 women under 40 years old will be diagnosed every day.

Young women with breast cancer face a unique set of practical, physical and emotional challenges including premature menopause, sexuality and fertility issues, caring for young children, financial and career issues.

Joining us for this In Conversation episode is Shananne and Kate. Kate was diagnosed with stage 3 triple negative breast cancer when she was 26 years old and 28 weeks pregnant. Shananne was diagnosed with hormone receptor positive breast cancer in 2018 when she was 37 years old and pregnant with her third child.

During this candid conversation between Shananne and Kate we’ll hear about their reaction on being told they had breast cancer, the treatment they received, the challenges they faced and continue to face, coping strategies they used and advice they have for other young women.

This podcast was recorded in February 2022.

RESOURCES:

• Sign up to My Journey and access a range of resources on for young women and breast cancer including Early breast cancer information for young women
• Cancer Australia Let’s talk about breast cancer in young women
• Visit our Online Network to connect with people going through a similar experience

Upfront About Breast Cancer is a production of Breast Cancer Network Australia. Our theme music is by the late Tara Simmons, and this episode is proudly brought to you by Sussan.

This episode was engineered and edited by Jane Nield at SEN Studios.

If this episode helped you or someone you know, you can support the show in the following ways to allow us to continue to be upfront with you and reach more people through meaningful content. Subscribe to ensure you never miss an episode, download so you always have an episode ready to listen to, leave a rating and review and tell us what you liked about the episode and complete the survey that you’ll find in the show notes. This survey will help us to tailor and create content that is relevant to our members and their breast cancer diagnosis.  

Want to get in touch? Visit our website at bcna.org.au, email us at [email protected], or call our Helpline on 1800 500 258