Episode 56 – The One Decision That Changed My Cancer Care
Iraq War veteran Laura Pearson was low risk by every measure when she felt a breast lump her mammogram had missed. On this episode of Kicking Cancer's Ass, she tells Joelle Kaufman how she pushed past a doctor's reassurance to get the bilateral diagnostic mammogram and biopsy that found her breast cancer, and how she traced it to the toxic burn pits she was exposed to during her deployment in Iraq, an exposure now recognized under the PACT Act.
Laura and Joelle talk about self-advocacy when your risk scores say you're fine, the higher cancer risk facing female veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan, why women use VA services far less than men, and how the VA became the highest standard of care Laura has experienced even though she has excellent private insurance. She shares the private oncologist who dismissed the burn-pit link, how she chose a mastectomy with reconstruction, how she kept running through recovery, and how she told her two kids she had cancer without passing them her fear.
This is essential listening for newly diagnosed women, female veterans, caregivers, and any clinician who has never asked a patient about military or environmental exposure. Search terms: breast cancer, veteran health, burn pits, PACT Act, VA cancer care, self-advocacy, mastectomy recovery.
