Dr. Kufel-Grabowska with the SheO award: Let's get checked, let's get treatment, and after the disease – let's live normally

Katarzyna Pinkosz, Wprost: Many women still die from breast cancer in Poland. What can be done to change these statistics?

Dr. Joanna Kufel-Grabowska: First of all, get checked – more and more often we say that early detection of cancer usually guarantees cure. Therefore, let's get checked, but let's also teach our children what prevention is, when they should get checked and when to see a doctor.

How early should a woman think about the possibility of getting sick and just start getting checked?

After puberty, we should talk to our children about the need for preventive tests in the future. In Poland, mammography is currently reimbursed (available under the screening program – editor's note) from the age of 45. However, we know that the incidence of breast cancer is increasing in younger groups, so it is worth telling high school and college students that breast self-examination may save their lives in the future.

Is it worth talking about prevention – and just getting tested?

That's right – let's get tested: it's simple!

Today, we have modern drugs for breast cancer that can help even in advanced stages?

That's true; just a few years ago, only 25 percent patients with metastatic cancer lived longer than 5 years, currently these statistics are improving significantly. Breast cancer is a unique disease, there are many cases, but the prognosis may be good. Of course, “the less the disease”, the greater the chance of recovery, so it is worth getting tested. However, even in the case of advanced disease, some patients have a chance to live a long life – thanks to treatment.

Why are more and more young women developing breast cancer?

It's really hard to say what the cause is. Research shows that it may be related to genetic load. On the other hand, the environment in which we live may influence the increased number of diseases.

Is it possible to live a normal life after cancer? There is a lot of talk about oncofertility now: is it possible to have a child after cancer?

Definitely yes. In my opinion, quality of life is very important, both after treatment and during the disease. I try to ensure that cancer does not determine the entire life of patients, but is only an element of it, a temporary condition. Then you have to return to normality, go back to work as much as possible, become a parent, function normally.

So: firstly, we need to get tested, and secondly: not to be afraid if we get sick?

Exactly. We should stop fighting cancer and treat it normally and treat it as one of the diseases of civilization.

Joanna Kufel-Grabowska, MD, PhD, is a specialist in clinical oncology, chairwoman of the Section of Fertility in Cancer (Oncofertility) of the Polish Oncological Society, works at the Department and Clinic of Oncology and Radiotherapy of the Medical University of Gdańsk.