Breast Cancer Survivors Struggle To Find Work Years After Defeating The Disease

As if battling breast cancer wasn’t enough already, recent research has revealed that unemployment among survivors is rife years after defeating the disease.

Nearly one-third of breast cancer survivors who were working when they began treatment have not been able to return to the work field four years later.

Women who received chemotherapy were most affected, according to a new study from the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Researchers surveyed woman in Detroit and Los Angeles who had been diagnosed with early stage breast cancer.

They narrowed their sample to the 746 women who reported working at the time they were diagnosed.

Participants were surveyed about nine months after diagnosis, and then given a follow-up survey about four years later.

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  Breast Cancer Care

  “I’m currently taking time off work (I work as a Principal at a primary school) and will return to work when I’m ready.

  “I’m also the main carer for my father so I have to make sure I get my work/life balance right.

  “Earlier this year I decided to bungee jump in Glasgow for Breast Cancer Care and raised £1000!

  “I’m so proud I did this as this isn’t something I would have done before my diagnosis.

  “The bungee jump itself was terrifying but exhilarating at the same time! It was an experience that showed I was brave on another level…a different kind of scary! I am so pleased I did it.”

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  Breast Cancer Care

  “After the ‘prison’ of cancer treatment, I absolutely loved the freedom of hiking in cloud forests at 14,000ft through the Andes; meeting locals who live in the most remote, extreme conditions I’ve ever seen.

  “Seeing the misty view of Machu Picchu from the Sun Gate after climbing 3,000 steps in torrential rain was an emotional experience. I felt lucky, overwhelmed, humbled and literally on top of the world.

  “Before I was diagnosed I was a party girl – sociable, spontaneous, working too hard, drinking too much, over stressing and under sleeping.

  “I was allergic to the gym and not eating healthily and pretty much acting like I was invincible. It is crazy how your whole life can change so suddenly and so dramatically.

  “I’m now passionate about healthy eating, juicing and hot yoga and I feel healthier and happier than I ever have in my life. Next stop Kilimanjaro!”

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  Breast Cancer Care

  “I never thought I would run a Marathon. To state the obvious – it’s a very long way!

  “Training was tough – but I trained with friends. We managed to convince ourselves that we happened to be socialising on the move as the miles stacked up.

  “The day of the Brighton Marathon 2012 came and I was very nervous – but I reminded myself that I had trained for it and nerves were normal.

  “I was thrilled with achieving a time of 4 hours and 43 minutes.
  Breast Cancer Care helped me when I felt desperately scared and isolated.

  “The services that I used were funded by the charitable donations of people before me. So I ran and raised £1000 for the women who were yet to be diagnosed. I am proud that I was able to do this.”

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  Breast Cancer Care

  “After I finished my treatment I decided I wanted to volunteer with the charity so I could help others.

  “I model at Breast Cancer Care’s Lingerie Evenings which are held at John Lewis where I work.

  “These evenings are designed to give women more confidence when choosing a bra after breast surgery. We offer a practical guide of what to look for in a bra.

  “There’s an opportunity to be fitted and then me and the other volunteer models, who have all had breast cancer, model the underwear to show how it looks on.

  “Getting used to your body post surgery can be really difficult so these Lingerie Evenings are vital in showing women with breast cancer that you can look fabulous post surgery. It really helps to give them confidence!”

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  Breast Cancer Care

  “Shortly after my diagnosis my mum and I were found to have the BRCA1 gene that increases our chance of getting cancer.

  “My mum, my best friend and role model, had already had breast cancer three times and two weeks after my diagnosis she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer.

  “We went through chemotherapy together and we were able to stay strong for each other and keep our sense of humour, if not our hair!

  “Earlier this year I was really proud to be picked to model at Breast Cancer Care’s annual fashion show.

  “The Show takes place at the Grosvenor House Hotel in October in front of 2,000 guests. The event aims to show that you can look great and feel glamorous following a breast cancer diagnosis.

  “Sadly my mum passed away in May and didn’t get to see me on the catwalk. She was my rock, my best friend and mentor and I still feel very lost without her.

  “Losing her has been devastating but I know she’d be as proud of me as I am of her.

  “Appearing on the catwalk was fantastic and I am so proud I was brave enough to do it!”

Overall, 30 percent of these working women said they were no longer working at the time of the four-year follow-up survey.

Women who received chemotherapy were more likely to report that they were not working four years later.

Many of these women reported that they want to work: 55 percent of those not working said it was important for them to work and 39 percent said they were actively looking for work.

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Those who were not working were significantly more likely to report they were worse off financially. Results of the study appear in the journal Cancer.

“Many doctors believe that even though patients may miss work during treatment, they will ‘bounce back’ in the longer term.

“The results of this study suggest otherwise. Loss of employment is a possible long-term negative consequence of chemotherapy that may not have been fully appreciated to date,” says lead study author Reshma Jagsi, M.D., D.Phil., associate professor of radiation oncology at the University of Michigan Medical School.

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Many patients take time off of work during chemotherapy treatment to deal with the immediate side effects of the therapy.

The researchers say it’s possible this may lead to long-term employment problems. In addition, chemotherapy treatments can cause long-term side effects such as neuropathy or cognitive issues, which might also affect job prospects.

The findings point to the need to reduce the burden of breast cancer treatment, and reinforce current efforts to develop better strategies for identifying patients less likely to benefit from chemotherapy.

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• Breast cancer is actually many different types of cancer

  Breast cancer, in its simplest definition, is cancer that starts in the cells of the breast. But what we call a href=”http://www.cancer.ca/en/cancer-information/cancer-type/breast/overview/?region=on” target=”_hplink”"breast cancer”/a actually includes several different types of cancer, all of which require different treatments and have different prognoses.

• A lump doesn’t always (or even usually) mean cancer

  Most breast lumps indicate something other than breast cancer—some possible causes for breast lumps include a href=”http://www.cancer.org/cancer/breastcancer/detailedguide/breast-cancer-what-is-breast-cancer” target=”_hplink”cysts, fibrosis, or benign tumours/a. And some women are just prone to lumpy breasts, which is stressful but harmless. That said, if you find a lump, get it checked out — know that the odds are good that it’s nothing serious, but see your doctor about it for your own peace of mind.

• Breast cancer isn’t always a lump

  It’s helpful to know that breast cancer can appear in a href=”http://ww5.komen.org/BreastCancer/WarningSigns.html” target=”_hplink”forms other than a lump/a, which means there are other physical signs you should watch for. Other symptoms that you should get checked out include thickening of the skin in the breast or underarm area; swelling, warmth, redness, or darkening of the breasts; a change in your breast size or shape; dimpling or puckering of the breast skin; an itchy, scaly sore or rash on the nipple; a pulling in of your nipple or another part of your breast; sudden nipple discharge; or pain in one spot of the breast that doesn’t go away.

• Breast cancer risk isn’t always determined by family history

  A family history of breast cancer (on either your mother or father’s side) can be an indication that your personal odds of developing it are higher than average, but they don’t guarantee that you will. As well, the majority of women who develop breast cancer have a href=”http://www.cancer.ca/en/cancer-information/cancer-type/breast/risks/?region=bc” target=”_hplink”no identifiable risk factors/a, including family history. And the BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene mutations are hereditary, but only account for five to 10 per cent of all breast cancers.

• BRCA1 or BRCA2 don’t always mean cancer is in your future

  The news that a href=”http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/05/14/angelina-jolie-breast-cancer-mastectomy_n_3271688.html” target=”_hplink”Angelina Jolie had had a preventative double mastectomy/a after testing positive for the BRCA1 gene mutation made many women wonder if they had the same mutation–and what it would mean for them if they did. If you do have the a href=”http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Risk/BRCA” target=”_hplink”BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene mutation/a, your lifetime risk of developing breast cancer or ovarian cancer is significantly elevated, and women with the mutations who do get cancer tend to develop it at younger ages; one estimate states that 55 to 65 per cent of the women with the BRCA1 mutation and 45 per cent of those with the BRCA2 mutation will develop breast cancer by age 70, versus 12 per cent in the general population. But it does not mean that cancer is definitely in your future, and every person has to make her own individual decision, based on a variety of factors, about how to best mitigate her risk of disease.

• Not all women have a one-in-eight risk for breast cancer

  This often-cited statistic is somewhat misleading. Breast cancer risk varies based on a variety of factors, including age, weight, and ethnic background. Risk increases as you get older (http://www.cdc.gov/cancer/breast/statistics/age.htm): most breast-cancer cases are in women in their 50s and 60s. Also, some ethnic groups appear to be more susceptible to breast cancer; the National Cancer Institute in the U.S. says that white, non-Hispanic women have the highest overall risk of developing breast cancer, while women of Korean descent have the lowest risk, but African-American women have a higher death rate. Finally, being overweight or obese may also up your risk; there is evidence that being obese or overweight after menopause can up your breast-cancer risk, possibly because fat tissue is a source of estrogen.

• There are ways to lower your risk

  You can’t prevent breast cancer, per se, but there are ways to a href=”http://www.cancer.org/cancer/news/four-ways-to-reduce-your-breast-cancer-risk” target=”_hplink”lower your personal risk/a. If you are overweight or obese, you could try to lose weight in a healthful way; if you are already in a healthy weight range, try to stay there. Exercise regularly, as as little as 75 to 150 minutes of walking a week has been shown to have a lowering effect on risk. Limit your alcohol consumption — research found that women who have two or more alcoholic drinks each day have an elevated risk of breast cancer. And avoid hormone therapy during menopause, as a combo of estrogen and progestin has been shown to raise breast-cancer risk.

• Mammograms aren’t foolproof

  Mammograms are a a href=”http://ww5.komen.org/BreastCancer/AccuracyofMammograms.html” target=”_hplink”powerful way to detect breast cancer/a early on, but they aren’t 100 per cent. Mammograms are most effective in women aged 50 and over; they detect about 83 per cent of women who have breast cancer in that age group. For younger women, the sensitivity is 78 per cent. However, that does mean some cancers are missed and that there are false-positive results as well, which could require a biopsy to confirm. Talk to your doctor about when you should start getting mammograms regularly, or if you have symptoms that suggest that you should get one.

• Fertility treatments don’t raise your breast-cancer risk

  Some wondered if a href=”http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/17/giuliana-rancic-breast-cancer-radiation-baby_n_1015278.html” target=”_hplink”Giuliana Rancic’s fertility treatments/a were behind her diagnosis of breast cancer in her late 30s, but experts interviewed by WebMD said that there is no strong evidence connecting the disease a href=”http://www.webmd.com/breast-cancer/news/20111018/does-fertility-treatment-raise-breast-cancer-risk” target=”_hplink”with the use of fertility drugs/a. It’s true that hormonal treatments can raise the risk for post-menopausal women, but women undergoing fertility treatments are almost never in that age range, and also take the medications for a much shorter period of time.

• Most women survive breast cancer

  Cancer is scary, but in most cases, women who are diagnosed with breast cancer survive and lead healthy lives. According to the Breast Cancer Society of Canada, a href=”http://www.bcsc.ca/p/46/l/105/t/” target=”_hplink”the five-year survival rate/a is 80 per cent for men and 88 per cent for women. a href=”http://www.cbcf.org/central/AboutBreastCancerMain/AboutBreastCancer/Pages/BreastCancerinCanada.aspx” target=”_hplink”That’s up/a from 79 per cent for women in 1986.

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Kate Upton Bares Her Ass-ets in Hot Jenna Leigh Lingerie (photos!)

Kate Upton has been busy promoting her new movie ‘The Other Woman,’ but thankfully hasn’t given up her day job yet.

Kate Upton shows why she’s become one of the hottest models in the world, and one of the most talked about, in a stunning photo shoots for Jenna Leigh lingerie. It’ doesn’t get much hotter than this.

Kate just oozes femininity and sensuality in lingerie that ranges from camisoles to bras, panties and jaw-dropping lacy thongs.

Kate, 21, shows off the curves that made her famous and caused a heap of controversy.

Despite making the cover of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue two years in a row, the blonde beauty was criticized by some in the fashion industry for being too curvaceous to be a supermodel.

Since then she’s become the poster girl in the debate over the fashion industry’s obsession with ultra-thin models. Kate, who is a a healthy weight and well proportioned for her five-foot, 10-inch frame, is the polar opposite.

She’s gradually swinging the industry to her side and has been embraced by none other than US Vogue Editor Anna Wintour, who has featured her in a series of photo spreads.

“It’s kind of funny to think, ‘The news is talking about whether I’m fat or not,” she told Vogue in an interview.

“It was hard at first. You sit there and you’re like, ‘Is something wrong with me?’ I can work out and I can stay healthy, but I can’t change some things. I really just live my life. I love my body.”

We love it, too. Check out her photos; they’re a mix going back to 2011, but well worth seeing. For more on Jenna Leigh go here.

Let us know your thoughts and follow TheImproper on Twitter to keep up with the latest fashion trends.

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Kate Upton Sizzles in Jenna Leigh Lingerie (Click Photos to Enlarge!)

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