Phoenix physician assistant who diagnoses breast cancer becomes patient herself

PHOENIX (AZFamily) — Breast cancer is the most common cancer in Arizona with more than 5,000 new cases every year.

One Valley healthcare provider knows that all too well after her own battle with the disease she’s dedicated her life to treating.

It was a shock for Maureen Hamel-Schwartz to go from helping breast cancer patients to becoming one. She’s delivered that life-changing diagnosis to countless women over the years, but said nothing could have prepared her to face it herself.

“I wear this coat. It doesn’t mean that I can’t get cancer,” she said.

Accepting that reality wasn’t easy for Hamel-Schwartz. For more than two decades, the physician assistant has diagnosed women with breast cancer.

“It was terrifying,” said Hamel-Schwartz, a physician assistant at Optum . “Never tho