Jayme Gurishic shares the story of her diagnosis as breast cancer awareness month kicks off

To help promote #BREASTfast as breast cancer awareness month begins, a Melbourne woman Jayme Gurishic shares her cancer journey.

Jayme Gurishic recalls being told “everything is fine” when she went to get lump in her breast checked.

But her intuition told her otherwise.

The Melbourne woman was lying on her couch when she first noticed an abnormal lump poking through the side of her bra.

“It was so strange, I just thought ‘what on earth is this marble sized lump’?” she said.

“My nana had breast cancer, so the family history was a concern.”

After her first ultrasound, Ms Gurishic was told her lump was non-cancerous.

Still unsure, Ms Gurishic pushed for a biopsy.

“I persisted until I got the referral, I just knew something didn’t feel right,” she said.

“I had the biopsy on Tuesday, and the following Sunday I had been diagnosed with invasive breast cancer.”

Ms Gurishic had stage two breast cancer, diagnosed as hormone positive and HER2 positive.

“At that point, I didn’t even realise there were different kinds of breast cancer, let alone that I had two of them,” Ms Gurishic said.

Since that day in March 2020, Ms Gurishic has undergone numerous treatments, including chemotherapy and radiation.

Jayme Gurishic was diagnosed with breast cancer at just 27. Image: NBCF

“I was convinced I wasn’t having chemo, I didn’t want to lose my hair,” she said.

“I asked my surgeon what my options were. He looked me dead in the eyes and told me without chemo, I’d be dead in two years. That’s when I realised how real it was. I remember thinking, this is not where my story ends, I’m 27.”

Ms Gurishic is sharing her diagnosis story to help promote the breast cancer awareness event #Breastfast, where the National Breast Cancer Foundation (NBCF) is encouraging people to share a photo of their breakfast with the hashtag, and donate the cost of the meal to the NBCF.

Ms Gurishic isn’t alone in her diagnosis, with one in seven Australian women being diagnosed with breast cancer every year.

Associate Professor Cleola Anderiesz, chief executive of NBCF, said there would be “20,000 diagnosis of breast cancer, and over 3200 people will die this year”.

“That equates to nine people every day dying of breast cancer. Our vision is to get that number to zero,” she said.

Prof Anderiesz said while breast cancer was the leading cause of cancer in Australian women, the survival rate has increased significantly since the foundation began.

“Since 1994, the survival rate has increased from 76 per cent to 92 per cent,” she said.

“That has been driven purely through the generosity of the Australian public.”

Prof Anderiesz said events like #BREASTfast help people be more “breast aware”.

“It encourages women to go and have their mammograms,” she said.

“That leads to earlier detection, which means we can manage the cancer better, and have more positive outcomes.”

NBCF has worked to help researchers like Associate Professor Kara Britt from the Peter MacCallum Cancer centre to continue their work.

Prof Britt stressed the importance of being “breast aware”, and encouraged women to be the “champions of their own health”.

“We do need to be aware of what’s going on around us – is their a family history, are you managing potential risk factors (bad diet, lack of exercise and too much alcohol), and knowing what is normal for your body,” she said.

#BREASTfast events will be held all around Australia on September 30 to kick off breast cancer awareness month (October).

You can donate now here.

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