Most breast cancers occur in women over 50 years old.

Obese women are 20 to 40% more likely to develop breast cancer.

Breastfeeding seems to protect against breast cancer and other cancers.

Family history of breast cancer may be a risk factor for new cancers.

All the above is true. But then, how come a mother of 42, mother of two breastfed sons, eats "mostly chicken and broccoli" in whose family no one has ever had cancer and who, with her fine physique, recently won a medal series in the Bikini Division of the National Physics Committee competitions – should she have been left with an unexpected diagnosis of invasive stage III breast cancer?

Michelle Gorczycki answers the question herself: "Cancer does not discriminate. Nobody receives a free pass. Every woman listens to her own body and pays attention to what she tells you. And follow up when you discover that something is wrong. And yet, this journey of discovery, diagnosis, treatment and, hopefully, lasting recovery can be frightening.

Gorczycki is a big winner. Originally from Tallahassee, she attended American high schools and completed high school at the age of 17. Although shy, she had practiced aerobics, gymnastics and dance. During her marketing studies at FSU, she expanded her activities to include cycling, hiking and "all that goes on outside". But like many women who become women, then mothers, her attention is focused on the back. -burner.

Gorczycki worked 12 hours a day in marketing and taking care of two active boys, leaving her little time and energy for gym visits and outdoor activities that she loved as. The books started to rise.

"I ended up last in everything I did," she says today. But a generic health screening showed how much it affected him. "I was 35, had an overweight of 45 pounds, my cholesterol was high and I felt very bad." Gorczycki decided to move on to action. And, she says, her "passion" has taken off.

Flash forward five years. With the help of a personal trainer, she lost weight and sculpted her body in an example of perfectly proportioned and refined femininity. At least that's what the rewards she had started winning in the bikini swimwear competitions specified by her champions. Gorczycki worked 2-3 hours a day. She ate "almost no carbohydrates". She had energy, a lot of "femininity" and felt wonderfully well. Until morning, she woke up feeling "if I needed to breastfeed".

Gorczycki said that it was two weeks after his last competition. She was in great shape. Her left breast did not look different, there were no lumps, but "it looked full". Always attentive to her annual mammograms and self-exams, she did not know what to do. And so, responding to "fullness," she gently squeezed her chest. And came out of the blood. It was the beginning of the saga, which, like many women, would be accompanied by shock, fear, panic, rapid education and support, followed by very difficult decision-making.

Although she had had two "suspicious" mammograms in the past, other examinations had only revealed "calcifications". She had implants for years but they had never bothered her. Now, she says, the doctor she was referred to seemed shocked that a woman with her skinny makeup and her physical conditioning had such symptoms. The blood had stopped and he suggested waiting and watching.

Two months later, "for several days," she says, there was a lot to see and feel. "A ball the size of a golf ball appeared under my chest. A week later, another big bump was in my arm. It was time to act.

A lumpectomy was performed under the breast and a biopsy was performed on that of the armpit. But the diagnosis, DCIS, ductal carcinoma in situ, a type of cancer that is generally confined to the milk ducts, was of a specific type: it bore the genetic abnormality HERII producing a hormone that actually accelerates the growth of cancer cells. The second lump under Gorczycki's arm was in the lymph nodes. He was also positive for a rapidly growing invasive malignancy.

"I was a mother of two young children. What would happen to them? I felt like I was in an unarmed war. I did not really know who or where the enemy would be next, "Gorczycki said. But now the doctors were aiming. Chemotherapy was started immediately. And even as the masses in his torso were being treated, another point was detected on his skull. It seemed that the cancer had metastasized.

But although this required surgery at the top of the skull, the results were negative. The photos of a then very bald Gorczycki show a woman with a bright smile that seems out of place in a convalescent ward.

Yet, the severity of her cancer had been improved from stage II to stage III. Gorczycki says that she was angry – angry at cancer. "I would not let him take my life without me fighting," she said. And she decided on a double mastectomy. During the procedure, 12 lymph nodes were removed.

Incongruously, after the surgery at the head and while she was undergoing chemotherapy, Gorczycki went back to work – and to the gym. "I wanted my children to know what it means to fight in their lives … for them to see their mother would not lie down and die; for them to learn and see how it is done. "

TMH's doctors were also fighting in his corner. A radiation regime has been started. And a month later, when a follow-up examination was done, Gorczycki said, "No cancer could be detected." She smiles the day the skin extensors were removed and new implants mammals were placed. She began to feel like a whole woman. again.

Dr. Raj Bendre, a radiation oncologist at the Tallahassee Memorial Health Center, said there was a need for "aggressive radiation" following the Gorczycki mastectomy to eliminate "residual cancer." He encourages her, however, as well as all women, to submit to a self-examination. "If there was breast cancer in your family at age 40, you should start your mammogram at age 30. And maybe with your doctor, also perform genetic tests. "

Today, Gorczycki, slender, coiffed, toned and deeply feminine, knows that his health must be his top priority. The return of his opponent is sometimes the object of nightmares. Indeed, his type of cancer has a 25-30% chance of recurrence. But she is taking a drug that is designed to interrupt new growth, although it is tiring and often causes nausea. And she plays her own role by eating organic foods, taking a lot of rest and doing a little less exercise than her grueling old routines.

But for Gorczycki, there is a lot to wait. "There is a competition in the spring," she says with a smile, straightening up a little more and lifting her chest. And it seems likely that the Bikini division would never have a rival as fiercely as Michelle Gorczycki.

Breast Cancer Awareness Month

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Throughout the month, the Democrat will feature articles on survivors, treatment, research and prevention in collaboration with our sponsor, Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare.

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