Liz Craker was 31 when she found the lump at the top of her left breast in the shower. Breastfeeding, she assumed it was mastitis and made an appointment at her local health clinic.

“It never crossed my mind that it would come back as cancer, not in my wildest dreams. I had no family history,” Liz, from Salt Lake City, Utah, remembers.

Her doctor suggested giving up caffeine and chocolate, which can affect breast tissue, and he tried to aspirate the lump and failed. Liz was sent for tests, then a biopsy. “I got the diagnosis on a Monday, and I had surgery that Friday. It just takes over your life immediately,” Liz, now 60, remembers. 7

She was one of the youngest patients with breast cancer her doctor had ever seen, and she had to juggle the frightening diagnosis with parenting her

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