Knoxville breast cancer survivor upset by new recommendations for mammograms

Knoxville breast cancer survivor upset by new recommendations for mammograms

By ERICA ESTEP
6 News Anchor/Reporter

KNOXVILLE (WATE) -- A West Knoxville breast cancer survivor is angry over new recommendations by an independent government task force for getting mammograms.

The panel says most women under 50 don't need mammograms.

Bronwyn Shupe worries about what would have happened if she'd waited to be tested. She believes her first mammogram saved her life.

Sitting her living room, Shupe points to a recent family picture and says, "This is what I want to be around for, my husband and for my son."

Her thoughts immediately went to her husband and five-year-old son when she learned she had breast cancer.

Then she wondered how she would cope with it. "What will I be facing? What kind of treatments will I have? How will I feel?"

Less than six months since her diagnosis and dozens of radiation treatments later, she is cancer free.

"I was able to get the lumpectomy and take the radiation and go through the process and now I feel great."

Shupe is only 40 with no family history of breast cancer. Her tumor was so small she couldn't detect it with a self exam.

She feels the mammogram her doctor suggested on her 40th birthday saved her life.

"If you wait until you're 50, it's definitely a setback in the strides they're making in fighting breast cancer and early detection," she adds. "I feel like I'm a success story for the early detection."

Shupe feels it's worth the risk of radiation exposure during a mammogram to catch cancer and save lives.

"It's important to me to be healthy, to be here for my family, my son, my husband, to grow old with my husband and to be there for my son as he graduates and he gets married. I mean, I have all that to look forward to."

If her cancer comes back, Shupe wants to detect it and fight it early.

She also worries that insurance companies may stop paying for mammograms for women under 50 and pay for fewer once you turn 50.