4 Year Old Has Mastectomy

    • 223 posts
    January 24, 2011 7:56 AM PST
    This is exactly why I do what I do with our upcoming event.  In our country today with our medical advances, there's NO reason why this should be happening!!

    Mastectomy for a preschooler

    Aleisha Hunter is not your average 4-year-old. In fact, she's the youngest breast cancer survivor in Canada.

    Not exactly the news her mother Melanie was expecting when she noticed a small lump in her daughter's breast while bathing her when she was 2.  Finally after trying to figure out what was causing Aleisha so much pain, at the age of 3, doctors diagnosed  juvenile breast carcinoma, a very rare form of  cancer.

    "Certainly breast cancer has been reported in children and in adolescents, but it's very rare in prepubrescent girls," says Dr. Thomas Olson, medical director of the Aflac Cancer Center and Blood Disorders Service in Atlanta. Fewer than 5 percent of invasive breast cancers occur in women under age 40, according to The National Institute for Health.   About 12.2 percent of women born today will get a  breast cancer diagnosis at some time in their lives, according to The National Cancer Institute.

    "There are many adult woman who have been tested and know that they carry a breast cancer gene mutation. I think it's important for them to realize that there is no evidence to support the risk of breast cancer in childhood for their daughters," says Dr. Sharon Plon, chief of Texas Children's Cancer Center Genetics Clinic.

    Aleisha's physician, Dr. Nancy Down  the deputy chief of surgery at North York General Hospital, decided on a left-sided modified radical mastectomy for the 3- year-old.   She didn't treat Aleisha with chemotherapy or radiation. "Whenever you have a rare case you go with a logical treatment. First you know you need surgery. The question is whether chemotherapy will add to that therapy, but you probably should not give chemotherapy unless you really think it will help," says Olson a pediatric oncologist.

    Downs told NBC the advantage to this rare type of cancer it's slow growing, it doesn't spread as aggressively as other types and the prognosis is usually very good.  She says Aleisha will have to get reconstructive surgery on her breast once she hits puberty.  "If parents are suspicious of something unusual...you  have to be your child's best advocate and it's important to follow-up if you are concerned about something  in your child that you haven't seen resolved," says Plon.

    In November Aleisha was honored as the 2010 Ambassador for Random Act of Kindness (RAK) Day in Cambridge and North Dumfries in Canada where she is from. The day encourages people to "pay it forward" and pay tribute to those who do kindnesses on that day and all yearlong.


    • Moderator
    • 1516 posts
    January 24, 2011 8:58 AM PST
    OMG! I have never heard of this for such a young girl.
  • January 24, 2011 11:53 AM PST
    Amazing.
  • January 24, 2011 7:44 PM PST
    This is a first for me hearing about such a thing in such a young girl. Beki make sure you send us all a litlle reminder when your event is coming and where we can send donations to ok. Thanks for what you do, it's a tough job and i for one could not do it.
    • 223 posts
    January 25, 2011 9:31 AM PST
    Thank you Wheels. There's a link next to the Ride for the Ribbon logo on my signature that will take you to our website. I've heard of children as young as 8 having breast cancer, but to be diagnosed this young? Never! Scary when you think of the amount of folks who cannot afford a mammogram or thermography, including men!