LISTEN: Research shows women under the age of 50 have an 80% higher risk of developing cancer compared to men of the same age. GPB’s Ellen Eldridge explains.
Brittney Powell took what control she could when diagnosed at age 35 with invasive ductal carcinoma breast cancer.
"I decided that I would shave my head before I started all of this because I didn't want the cancer to take my hair," Powell said. "I wanted to be in control of this."
The now 37-year-old said she knew for years that something wasn't right with her body. Powell felt "off" hormonally, but doctors refused to do testing.
"Again and again they told me that I was too young to have any hormone issues, that everything looked normal," she said.
Experts encouraged Powell not to worry because she was young, active and healthy. But she persisted and, in 2022, Powell found a doctor who performed hormone testing and found Powell's estrogen was "severely dominant."
Six months after that, Powell felt a lump in her breast that her gynecologist could not feel, but the doctor sent Powell for imaging despite her being "too young for breast cancer."
After an ultrasound, mammogram and biopsy, Powell learned — through the online MyChart system — that she had breast cancer.
"I found out through my patient portal with no call and no explanation," she said. "That is what led me to seek second opinions and landed me here at City of Hope."
City of Hope Atlanta, a cancer research and treatment organization, is partnering with the American Cancer Society, Together for Supportive Cancer Care, Tigerlily Foundation, and others to champion three urgent avenues for change: A national standard for supportive care, screening for breast cancer at 25 and making it a priority to include women in age-specific research and in clinical trials that meet the needs of this younger demographic.
One such study, phase 2 I-SPY2 trial, is examining ways to improve outcomes in patients with high-risk breast cancer by testing new therapies.
Women under the age of 50 have an 80% higher risk of developing cancer compared to their male counterparts, Chief Clinical Officer Dr. Kristin Higgins said, and that's across the spectrum of different types of cancer, including breast, lung and colon cancer.
More than 66,000 Georgians are estimated to be diagnosed with cancer in 2025, and women under 50 in Fulton County rank No. 2 statewide for lung cancer (compared to others in their age group) and No. 32 for breast cancer.
The standard age for a mammogram is 40, which was lowered in the past from the age of 50.
"But there are women that are diagnosed with breast cancer at an age that is younger than 40," Higgins said. "So clearly our recommendations are not catching all of the women that are diagnosed with cancer."
Powell was one of those women. After a double mastectomy, Powell was declared cancer-free.
Powell said she shared her story not for sympathy but to empower others, especially young women, to listen to their bodies, to push for answers, and to know that they deserve to be heard.
"We need better screening, we need more supportive care, and a system that sees us because we're not too young and we're not invisible and we matter," she said.
