Video

A Metastatic Breast Cancer Thriver Shares the Importance of Understanding Your Diagnosis

Author(s):

Understanding a diagnosis is not just something for a patient's care team, the patient needs to understand their diagnosis as well.

Receiving a misdiagnosis and being treated for the wrong type of breast cancer for five years led Stephanie Seban to discover the importance of knowing her own diagnosis. That’s why Seban, now a wellness advocate and cancer thriver, shares her story with others — in the hope of inspiring them to learn all they can about their own diagnosis and be their own best advocates.

At the 37th Annual Miami Breast Cancer Conference® and CURE® Educated Patient Breast Cancer Summit, Seban explained why, despite the fear one might feel, learning all you can about your diagnosis is key to feeling more empowered on your cancer journey.

Transcription:

Definitely get a second opinion and know your diagnosis. (I’ve met) so many women, over my almost nine years of advocating, and I’ll ask them, “What kind of breast cancer do you have?” and they don’t know.

No judgment, sometimes less is more and you’re fearful and I understand that, but knowing your diagnosis, knowing the drugs that you’re on, knowing their specific functions, knowing what’s in the pipeline for new treatments to come is so important and allows you to feel empowered and a little bit in control of something that’s so out of control. So definitely get to know your diagnosis.

Related Videos
Image of Doctor with blonde hair.
Dr. Debu Tripathy discussed the importance of understanding the distinctions between HER2-low and HER2-ultralow breast cancer.
Primary urothelial cancer has variable histologies, making its treatment complex, leading to varied outcomes with high rates of recurrence in patients.
Dr. Neeraj Agarwal is a medical oncologist, a professor of medicine and the Presidential Endowed Chair of Cancer Research at the Huntsman Cancer Institute, University of Utah, as well as director of the Genitourinary Oncology Program and the Center of Investigational Therapeutics at the Huntsman Cancer Institute in Salt Lake City.
Image of Dr. Goy.
Image of bald man.
Dr. Debu Tripathy is a professor and chairman of the Department of Breast Medical Oncology, Division of Cancer Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, in Houston, and the editor-in-chief of CURE®.
Image of Dr. Scott Kopetz
Image of Dr. Susumu Hijoka
Dr. Azka Ali is a medical oncologist at the Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Institute, in Ohio.
Related Content