Breast Cancer Awareness Month: Cybersecurity Concepts and Fighting Cancer

Linkedin is a place to share useful information across my professional network, so I rarely share personal updates here. However, October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, so I wanted to take this opportunity to share information tied to personal news: About a month ago, I was diagnosed with breast cancer.

Thankfully, it seems I've caught it early, though I have some rough months ahead for the treatment. Because a lot of the time in my life is spent covering and sharing research and strategies in cybersecurity, I wanted to share the analogies to cybersecurity concepts that are helping me navigate this journey and face this horrible disease.

TLDR/key takeaways: everyone should regularly perform self exams and diagnostic screenings (visibility and accurate alerts/detection are key) and consider genetic testing, life is precious so don't forget to take care of yourselves and your families, I can't make it to conferences but will be rocking some crazy wigs and hats in the next few months as I go through treatment.

Of course, I'm not a medical professional, so the below is about my personal journey and understanding of breast cancer and treatment. Please consult your doctor or the links below for more info.

Prevalence of Breast Cancer and Proactive Risk Mitigation

One in eight women wilI develop breast cancer in her lifetime. The New York Times this week posted an article with new research showing how breast cancer continues to rise among younger women . This disease doesn't only affect women, as there are also increasing numbers of cases for men.

I was not aware of any family history of breast cancer but put some effort into living a healthy lifestyle that mitigates my risk. I have my own organic vegetable garden, we eat a lot of plant-based meals packed with brassicas and cruciferous vegetables and antioxidants, and we do our best to buy and eat organic, free range, grass fed, etc. I get routine physical exams and follow my doctor's advice for diagnostic screenings and had a mammogram last year.

The Importance of Visibility for Detection

However, in mid August, I found a lump. It felt like a dime-sized mass under the skin. I frantically googled "lump in breast," "signs of cancer," etc., and messaged my doctor. I had an exam and was referred for a mammogram and ultrasound, although the nurse practitioner said it it didn't seem to feel hard or have sharp edges, which are good signs. Also, when messaging my doctor, she thought it was likely a benign cyst. I'm leaving out many details about the challenges of getting appointments, the lack of places with the right equipment, and those with equipment being booked for weeks or months out, but I was lucky to get in about a week and a half later, just dreading that they were probably going to have to drain a cyst.

I'd had a mammogram the year before, but this time, the radiologist kept asking for more images to be taken, with more magnifiers - on both sides. I was wondering if they were looking on the other side to get a baseline for a comparison. During the ultrasound, they seemed to be checking everywhere on both sides, including up by my neck and under my arms. At the end of the appointment, the doctor came in and told me I needed a biopsy, and they found a second lump on the other side (which I could not feel). My reaction: "Wait, this isn't a benign cyst?" and his answer: "I'm afraid not. We do our best but sometimes cancer rears its ugly head."

When I got the test results back from the mammogram and ultrasound, that was when the reality sunk in that I likely had cancer - my scores were BIRAD-5 (highly suspicious of malignancy, 70-95% cancer) on one side, BIRAD-4 (suspicious abnormality, 20-40% cancer). I was in shock, and had many questions for the radiologist: "Is it likely that I had this last year when I had a mammogram, but you couldn't see it because I have dense tissue?"

Breast cancer is not typically fast growing. Ideally mammograms can detect abnormalities before we can feel lumps or notice any pain or symptoms. So I was concerned and worried that it must be pretty big if I could feel it. The doctor answered, "yes," and explained that if you have dense tissue, it is like trying to look in a black box, so they often can't detect cancer in dense tissue from mammograms. (He did mention that sometimes they use AI to fill in the blanks, but this is new and they were looking for other better ways for better visibility.)

Later, when meeting with my surgeon, she walked me through all of the images from radiology. In the mammography images, it is very hard to see the tumors because it just looks like a lot of white blobs so the tumors are pretty hidden, whereas in the ultrasound, the tumors are very clear. Unfortunately, when mammograms are inconclusive due to dense tissue, doctors don't refer people for ultrasounds and it is not covered by insurance. (And I'd learned that it is very difficult to get appointments because there are only a few locations with the equipment.)

Some other staggering statistics from the National Breast Cancer Foundation

• 47% of women put off or postponed preventative services due to costs
• 49% of uninsured women delayed or went without care due to cost
• Poverty, less education, and lack of health insurance are associated with lower breast cancer survival rates
• Early diagnosis is key, as 66% of breast cancer cases are diagnosed at an early, localized stage when it is easier to treat

I am fortunate to be employed and have health insurance; I can't even imagine how hard this would be in other circumstances. I had some good news related to the last bullet. So far (knock wood) there is no indication of any spread.

Rapid Response: Treatment

My mind went to cybersecurity. Once you detect an issue, you need to determine the best response, and act quickly. The good news is that I'm in an area with excellent doctors. I do not have a rare disease; after my biopsy and related tests, I was diagnosed with invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC), which is the most common type of breast cancer. It was scary to learn, though, that I have triple negative breast cancer (TNBC), which basically means my tumors don't have hormone receptors that could be helpful for treatment. More good news to help though: breast cancer research is well-funded. Though TNBC is more rare, faster-growing, and more likely to recur, thanks to advances and newer regimens , it is treatable, and, thank goodness, I've caught it relatively early.

The treatment is not an easy path; it is chemotherapy, immunotherapy, surgery, and possibly radiation treatments over the next months. My oncologist told me that for many, work and maintaining normal routines is therapeutic. This is inline with my personality. I love my job; writing and working eases my stress, and it makes me happy to interact with my colleagues and clients. I know there will be some rough days ahead, but I feel very fortunate to have a supportive work environment and amazing team at Enterprise Strategy Group helping me through this. Another important aspect of my treatment is I have an amazing support network, including some amazing women who have fought and conquered this disease.

However, to put it mildly, I'm not thrilled to cancel my travel for the upcoming months. It is very difficult for me to take it easy and sit things out. There are many upcoming conferences and events that I was looking forward to, but my treatment will require me to stay away from crowds as my immune system will be compromised. That will be hard for me as I have major FOMO! I am counting on your info and pictures in my social media feeds to keep me updated.

With my cybersecurity mindset, I am very aware of the need to minimize the impact with a faster time between detection and response, so I am anxious to go through the treatment, and get all of this behind me.

Another Factor for Risk Mitigation and Treatment: Genetics

What I have learned through this is that you can't take good health for granted. In cybersecurity, we know we will face attacks, and we work on risk mitigation. I've mentioned my own healthy strategies which I hope will help keep my body strong as I go through treatment.

One other area where we can be proactive to mitigate health risk is to get genetic testing. After my diagnosis, I was offered genetic counseling and testing. This is another area that is not often covered by insurance, but is well worth the ~$100 to take the blood test and find out about how your genetic makeup influences your susceptibility to different diseases or medical issues. It turns out, I tested positive for the BRCA1 gene, which makes you predisposed to breast cancer (including TNBC) and ovarian cancer. Apparently, this is common for those with Ashkenazi Jewish heritage, which I have via my father.

Knowing this helps me understand the cause of my cancer, and it is useful for my treatment plan because they can target this gene to eradicate my current cancer, as well as keep it from recurring.

My Hair!

If you've read this far, thanks for reading. I partly wanted to write this down because I truly enjoy building my professional network and getting to know people. It's important to share my learnings for breast cancer awareness in case it can help others with early detection, and I wanted to explain why I can't make it to conferences for a while, AND why my hair is about to look even funkier than normal. My hair has been pretty wrecked from bleaching and coloring, so I'm actually looking forward to having some fun with wigs and hats.

Please help spread awareness to fight this terrible disease and send me positive thoughts on my journey.