Settimanale Azione - Breast Cancer: Risk Knows No Age

“When I turned 69, I received a letter informing me that the cantonal mammography screening program had ended. It actually also stated that I was being offered the option to continue the screenings if I wished, but at that moment I thought: ‘Well, since they’re giving me the option to choose, that means the risk is over now.’ No one really explained to me that I should have continued anyway, or how important it was to do so. So, over time, I stopped going to the gynecologist as well. I felt fine, I had no symptoms, and so I didn’t see any reason to get checked. Then, one day, I felt a lump. At first, I pretended nothing was wrong, perhaps out of fear. By the time I finally decided to talk to the doctor about it, the tumor was already quite large. What struck me most was discovering that at my age, the risk was by no means over. Quite the contrary. If someone had explained this clearly to me, I probably would have kept getting checked. Today I tell myself that information is essential and a letter isn’t enough: we need to make people understand that prevention has no expiration date.” Maria (name known to the editors) is 75 years old and lucidly recounts the journey she undertook following the cantonal mammography screening program, a public health initiative in our canton that regularly invites women between the ages of 50 and 69 to undergo a mammogram every two years, with costs covered and standardized protocols.

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