Bridget Pargulski, a breast cancer survivor, diagnosed in 2012 at the age of 46 shared her story along with the struggles she has faced regarding and advocacy. Mrs. Pargulski considered herself to always being on top of her yearly mammograms, without failure. One year, she added an MRI to the mammogram, which revealed she had two tumors, which turned out to be cancer. She quickly scheduled a mastectomy, thinking she was catching the cancer at an early stage, in which she found out the cancer had spread to her lymph nodes. This diagnosis turned into stage 3 cancer, in which Bridget thought it was only stage 1. In recognizing early signs, it was realized that Bridget’s nipples were turning in, which lead to the recognition that she had dense breast tissue. …show more content…
Pargulski found herself going to the may clinic. Through this visitation with Dr. Debra, Bridget found out that the cancer has been there for five years, meaning for four years, she was told she was in the clear through her yearly mammograms. With this heartbreaking news, Dr. Debra informed Bridget that there was a law that would require radiologists to inform patients if women have dense breast tissue. In making patients aware of this, they will understand that this can impact the mammogram results. Mrs. Pargulski wanted to go back to Iowa, to get this law passed for others. After many attempts, it was not until she had an oncologist on her side, which had a huge affect in the process. The law basically stated that women needed to be told about the density in their breast, since dense breast tissue and cancer both show up white on the mammogram, it is easily looked