Amy Mickelson Diagnosed with Breast Cancer

If you’ve followed golfer Phil Mickelson’s career, you may be familiar with his wife, 37-year-old Amy. The two have been married since the mid 90s and Amy is often seen in the crowd when her husband plays.

Unfortunately, they are yet another couple that has been touched by breast cancer. Her diagnosis was revealed earlier today as Phil announced that he was withdrawing from the Byron Nelson Championship and has taken an indefinite leave from play while they and their three young children deal with this new reality.

Hopefully, theirs will be another successful fight.

According to Breastcancer.org, 1 in 8 women in the United States will develop breast cancer. After skin cancer, breast cancer is the most common cancer in women in the US.

Women who have close relatives who had breast cancer (mother, sister) have a higher risk of developing it, particularly if there is a genetic component to the cancer.

Although it’s a lot less common, men get breast cancer too. They have breast tissue that can be affected. Unfortunately, because men don’t usually check themselves nor do doctors check them for lumps in the breast, it’s often discovered late. The signs of breast cancer are the same in men.

What are the signs and symptoms of breast cancer?

Besides doing a regular self-examination of your breasts, the American Cancer Society says that any of the these unusual changes could be a symptom of breast cancer:

• swelling of all or part of the breast
• skin irritation or dimpling
• breast pain
• nipple pain or the nipple turning inward
• redness, scaliness, or thickening of the nipple or breast skin
• a nipple discharge other than breast milk
• a lump in the underarm area

If you have any of those signs, please get yourself checked. Don’t wait. A false alarm may be frightening, but it’s better than ignoring it.

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Image: Newscom.com