Young Mom Urges Women To Get Mammograms After Her Lifesaving Discovery

Six months ago Yolanda Sanchez was a typical 43-year-old wife to Alan and working mom of 15-month-old twin boy, Liam and Lucas. Today, she has added “breast cancer survivor” to her title – all because she was proactive with her health and got screened for breast cancer. As Breast Cancer Awareness Month comes to a close, Yolanda returned to Catholic Health’s Mercy Hospital to urge women to be proactive with their health and to make their appointments to get screened.

“I never thought it could be me. I am young, a new mom, had zero symptoms and no family history. BUT, it was me and I’m here to share that it could be you too. Please schedule your mammograms… it can save your life. It saved mine,” said Yolanda.

Yolanda is thankful to the clinical teams that took care of her and helped her, and her family, though this process. She received all-inclusive breast cancer treatment at Mercy Hospital from a variety of departments including radiology and imaging, nursing and nurse navigation, breast surgery, genetic counseling, infusion, oncology and more.

Yolanda has opted to get a full mastectomy as it was uncovered through hereditary cancer genetic testing at Mercy that she was positive for a moderate risk breast gene (not BRCA), which increases her overall lifetime risks of other cancers.

Yolanda is looking forward to celebrating her 44th and her twins’ 2nd birthdays together in mid-November (their birthdays are a day apart) and to get back to her typical self. “This birthday is definitely going to be different. I’m aware that my outcome could have been different had I not made that appointment; therefore, I’m going to appreciate all the moments – no matter how small they are and just enjoy all the things I love,” she added.

For more information about Breast Health Services at Mercy, call (516) 626-3729.