Come October, we don our pink ribbons, celebrate stories of cancer survival, and talk of hope. But beneath the symbolic gestures lies an alarming narrative: breast cancer is creeping into younger lives in India .

Long associated with women over 50, breast cancer is no longer a disease that afflicts older age groups alone. Recent data points to a substantial number of cases being diagnosed in women aged under 40. In several Indian studies, about 15 to 20% of breast cancer patients are in this younger age group, statistics far higher than many Western populations, which show just 2 to 6% of patients in the same age group.

In Bengaluru and other parts of Karnataka, hospitals report that breast cancer cases among women aged 20–40 years have doubled in the past five years. This surge signal

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