Family Support

Diane is the oldest of three sisters, and spent most of her life taking care of her younger sisters. One day she noticed a lump in her right breast. Her youngest sister urged her to go to the doctor.

Her doctor performed a procedure to withdraw cells from the lump. The sample was sent to the cytology laboratory for testing.

Amanda, a cytotechnologist, screened the slides from Diane’s sample. Amanda was concerned about this case. She marked several groups of abnormal cells and gave the slides to the pathologist and suggested they do further work-up by performing special stains to classify the abnormal cells. The stains showed that Diane did have a very early form breast cancer. The stains also showed Diane had genetic material that made her more at risk to developing breast cancer.

Diane’s doctor had Diane talk to her sisters to have them tested for the same genetic material. All three sisters had the same genetic material. They were able to see a doctor right away to be tested for early signs of cancer.

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