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Montreal woman dies at 32 after being told she was ‘too young for breast cancer’ (www.ctvnews.ca)

submitted 2 weeks ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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A Montreal woman who was told by health-care professionals that she was too young for breast cancer but later diagnosed with it, has died from the disease. Valerie Buchanan was 32 when she died at the end of February.

“I keep asking myself why anyone, but selfishly, why her?” Chris Scheepers, Buchanan’s husband told CTVNews.ca in a telephone interview. “She was a beautiful person. She was extremely driven, talented and positive. What really breaks me is our son won’t know the truly remarkable woman she was.”

Throughout 2020, Buchanan sought answers for a lump in her chest but had said she was reassured by multiple health-care professionals in Ottawa and Montreal that it was a benign cyst without sending her for imaging to confirm.

After 13 months, Buchanan eventually went to a private clinic and was diagnosed with Stage 3 triple-negative breast cancer – a biologically aggressive subtype of breast cancer. Just a few months later, she learned it was Stage 4.

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

ive seen alot of these videos"too young to have this type of cancer" triple negative and inflammatory breast cancer is more prevelant in younger woman, reasons are unknown.

triple negatives which means they wont respond to hormonal therapy like estrogen.

once saw an episode of a show that shows rare disease, and IBC was one of them.

and doctors tend to ignore symptoms of a uncommon disease thats mean for older people, they are not used to it, unless the doctor have seen many patients with breast cancer.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 weeks ago

The wealthy controlling class in Canada have been destroying and hindering their un8versal Healthcare system in order to move in for profit nedical care. Canada has been letting them break their system and its costing lives and money.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

I would blame this less on doctors and more on insurance providers and hospital administrators that deny certain tests.

Testing for a cancer diagnosis is FAR more expensive when the result is positive.

She died because the healthcare system around her would like to avoid paying for the treatment of her.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 2 weeks ago

This is in Canada, insurance would not have been a roadblock.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Forgive my ignorance, but is that how things work over in Canada? I always heard this sort of thing in the US but I heard Canada does stuff differently?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago

Yes, we do things differently. Things are almost always covered by healthcare that are needed. We don't go bankrupt seeing the doctor usually like our southern neighbors might

[–] [email protected] 40 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

It's a thing everywhere that women are routinely told "it's anxiety / depression" etc, and aren't listened to. It takes years longer for women to receive diagnosis for anything. Advocate for the women in your life. Go to doctors appointments with them. Apparently if a man goes with them, they'll, more likely be listened to, team up with someone who won't take no for an answer. It's not just the car dealerships that women face issues, it's everywhere.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 weeks ago

It works for trans men too. If I go to the Urgent Care, I will get better care if I can remain stealth.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 weeks ago

It's simpler to say that doctors are morons. And I mean that in a very real sense, I suspect that part of medical school is a lobotomy. Without fail, doctors have been some of the dimmest brutes humanity has to offer.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I can confirm this from first hand experience. The doctor's office I was seeing wouldn't answer my very basic questions, almost comically choosing to ignore or deflect me. I called my dad, he asked the same questions, and immediately got answered. I asked them why they wouldn't tell me that and they couldn't explain themselves. They gave me a halfhearted apology and I found a new doctor.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago

Similar story, my ex had health issues most of her life and her doctors kept missing what was going on, partially because they didn't believe her about some things. One doctor deciding to investigate instead of dismissing saved her life when he found out her birth control was killing her, though her gp at the time still wanted her to finish the course.

That same gp also didn't believe she was actually dislocating her limbs until she finally just did it in front of him and he changed his tune right away (though still didn't really help).

Later she had a new better gp as well as a good idea of what chronic issue she had, but he still resisted when she was pushing for a diagnosis. I just came along for one appointment and when he said something like "this isn't a clear sign that you have ", I asked what evidence was he considering that pointed at her not having it. He then admitted he didn't know much about the condition and would do some research. After doing some reading, he was quick to give her a referral to a clinic that specialized in the condition because apparently he needed to be asked about his reasoning from a man to even bother learning about the condition that matched her experience very well and that she was later diagnosed with a severe form of.

I think AIs will be great for diagnosis because they will be able to cut out the biases doctors have against ever suspecting a rare case or giving women any consideration deeper than "stress".

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I agree but as a healthcare worker it’s across the board, if you’re a woman, a minority, a blue collar worker, a poor person, the Canadian heath industry has increasingly brushed all of our issues under the rug as they cut more and more from healthcare

[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Its not just canadian healthcare.

in America its much the same way.

Doctors are over worked, nurses are under staffed, no one wants to deal with anything that cant be diagnosed and solved in 2 minutes with a hastily written prescription. Even worse if you are poor, not white, have chronic issues, etc.

Last time I changed doctors (which was before covid), It took me 5 fucking years to find a doctor that would take me.. cause most of them wont even see potentially "problematic" patients.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

While I can agree with much of what you said, in my experience - almost without fail - male doctors I've seen to diagnose my twice-blown ACL and rotator cuff have dismissed me outright ... often mumbling that girls can't hurt themselves that bad at work.

It's gd aggravating at best. At worst I did more damage to both my knee and shoulder because the Drs didn't give any time off work at the sawmill.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Oh I am not in any way saying sexism doesnt exist in medicine.

I am not a woman, but I have seen plenty how my female relatives were treated in ERs and just by their daily doctors, even by female doctors, to know that the sexism is just ingrained in the institution of medicine itself.

and no, that does not make it right, in case anyone tries to say i'm arguing in favor of sexism or something. Im just saying its not a one off thing, that its downright institutional and that even female doctors are grossly guilty of it.

as a side note, I feel gross for saying female, even when its directly appropriate term to use, because of how incels have poisoned the word. blegh.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (2 children)

I heard good things about healthcare in Canada. I come from a country that also has universal healthcare, but doctors are paid measly wages and results are what you pay for. 4-5 hours waits at emergency rooms, doctors and nurses refusing to do more than the bare minimum, or not event that, unless you give them a little "incentive", etc, etc. So actually good doctors go to practice in private clinics or other countries, where they're paid properly. I have lots of horror stories from the healthcare system in my native country.

But I thoght that Canada properly funds their healthcare system and this stuff wouldn't happen.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

People believe all kinds of bullshit about Canadian healthcare. We have an awful healthcare system. I have had to forgo treatments because I couldn't afford them. Many things aren't covered under provincial healthcare plans, many ERs regularly suspend service due to being shortstaffed (which has led to many deaths), we have more and more private health clinics that charge exorbitant fees for basic services, we have systemic discrimination against women and racialized people, and we have relatively high rates of medical bankruptcy. The whole system is fucked.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago

God, it's so fucked that somehow your system is better than ours (USA) in most cases and certainly general affordability and it's still that bad.

Fucking wild. I suppose like everything else it's a spectrum for people's experiences and depends on the province and local govt.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 weeks ago

But I thoght that Canada properly funds their healthcare system and this stuff wouldn't happen.

Buddy, Canada has the second worst healthcare system among high income countries, behind only the shitstain that is the US system.

The system is so underfunded that wait times are abysmal and doctors/nurses leave in droves to avoid dealing with consequences of underfunding.

[–] [email protected] 45 points 2 weeks ago

An Ontario doctor killed my mother by refusing to refer her to a specialist until the pain swallowing became so great she was starving to death. It was esophageal cancer and despite a traumatic surgery, she could not be saved.

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