Nearly 70,000 women a year are diagnosed with triple-negative and other forms of hormone-negative breast cancer, yet no book exists on this disease. Patricia Prijatel fills this void by using a broad array of scientific studies presented in the context of her own experience and through profiles of other women who have faced TNBC.
Surviving Triple Negative Breast Cancer provides research-based information on the characteristics of TNBC, survival statistics, proper treatment, and strategies to reduce the risk of recurrence, including diet and lifestyle changes. It provides a guide to understanding your pathology report and explores possible risk factors for TNBC, including the role of the BRCA genetic mutations, family history, and race. Prijatel provides a vast array of scientific studies to support her information and to offer suggestions for further reading.
Pat’s primary message is that TNBC is a disease to take seriously, with proper and occasionally aggressive treatment, but it is not automatically a killer; in fact, most women diagnosed with the disease do survive.
Pat’s story will make you laugh and cry, but will show the heart of a survivor. And the profiles of 11 women from throughout the United States who were diagnosed in their 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, and 60s put a face on the disease. These are mothers, wives, daughters, sisters who went through a variety of medical treatments and then got on with life—one competes in triathlons, two had babies after being treated with chemo, one got remarried in her 50s, and one just celebrated the 30th birthday of the son she was nursing when she was diagnosed.
Pat is the founder of the Positives About Negative blog, one of the few sites focused entirely on triple-negative and other forms of hormone-negative breast cancer. Through the blog, she has met hundreds of women who have told her their stories, sharing their fears, confusion, and frustration. This perspective helped guide Pat as she wrote this book, providing her with a roadmap of what readers need.
REVIEWS
“A wonderful blend of memoir, health information, and hope.” — Julie Silver, Assistant Professor, Harvard Medical School, and author of What Helped Get Me Through: Cancer Survivors Share Wisdom and Hope (American Cancer Society)
“The voice of a true friend echoes throughout these pages. I congratulate [the author] on a monumental achievement. She has distilled a great deal of information down to a highly readable volume.” — Carol EH Scott-Conner, Professor of Surgery, University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine
“With its blending of facts, personal information, and gentle humor, this book will be valuable to anyone diagnosed with breast cancer, whether triple-negative or not.” — Madlyn Ferraro, former network coordinator of cancer clinical trials, Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
“Prijatel’s journalistic skills are evident in her fluid prose and the detail with which she lays out the specifics of TNBC . . . She states her goal here is to ‘inform, educate, calm, and encourage.’ She does so in fine form. Highly recommended.” — Library Journal, starred review