Double Mastectomy Helps New Mom Create a Bright Future

After a Double Mastectomy, the Future Looks Bright for This New Mom

Amanda D., a pediatric nurse at Hackensack University Medical Center in Hackensack, was at a routine gynecology appointment when her health care provider discovered a tiny lump in her right breast. The then-29-year-old, who had recently given birth to a son, didn’t think much of it because she’d had breast cysts in the past.

“I wasn’t worried in the slightest bit,” she says. “I just figured it was another cyst.”

But her doctor suggested she get a follow-up ultrasound, which revealed that it wasn’t a cyst after all - it was dense, more like a mass than a pocket of fluid, and it needed to be biopsied. 

“That’s when I really started to get nervous,” Amanda says. “It wasn’t what I was expecting. I thought, ‘Something is going on here.’”

The next day, she called her doctor’s office, and within a few hours, she spoke to the nurse practitioner who’d done the breast exam. “She said, ‘I’m so sorry, but you have breast cancer.’” 

Amanda felt blindsided. She called her mom, who was babysitting her son, and asked if he could spend the night with her; she needed time to process her emotions. Then she went home and told her husband the news. 

“We hugged it out, and I cried a lot,” she says. “Then together, we went to my parents’ house, and I told the rest of my family.”

Her tests revealed she had Stage 1 estrogen receptor-positive (ER-positive), progesterone receptor-positive (PR-positive), HER2-negative breast cancer. This type of cancer, also known as HR+/HER2- breast cancer, accounts for about 70 percent of all female breast cancers in the U.S. 

Since the first line of treatment for Stage 1 breast cancer is surgery, the nurse practitioner suggested she reach out to Christopher McGreevy, M.D., associate chief of breast surgery at Hackensack University Medical Center. She made the appointment right away. 

Learning More About Her Diagnosis

When Amanda met with Dr. McGreevy in November 2024, he told her she was one of his youngest patients. 

“Most breast cancers we see are in postmenopausal women,” Dr. McGreevy says, “although I would say over the last five to 10 years, we have seen an international trend of younger women developing breast cancer.” 

In the U.S. alone, new cases of breast cancer in women age 45 or younger rose by nearly 1 percent per year from 2012 to 2022. This may be because women are being exposed to more estrogen over the course of their lives - due to earlier menstruation, going through menopause later in life and not having children - and estrogen can fuel breast cancer cells. 

Dr. McGreevy also notes that Amanda’s case was somewhat unique in that she didn’t have a heightened genetic risk for breast cancer. 

“When I see a patient in their late 20s or early 30s who has breast cancer, I usually expect to find a genetic mutation,” he says.

But Amanda tested negative for BRCA1 and BRCA2, and she didn’t have a family history of the disease. He was certain he could treat her, though. 

“I told her that the long-term survival for Stage 1 breast cancer is actually excellent - a 99 percent chance,” he says. “I told her [that] I expect her to live for another 70 years.”

Making the Mastectomy Decision

When it came to treatment, Dr. McGreevy explained to Amanda that she had two options: She could get breast-conserving surgery (sometimes called a lumpectomy or partial mastectomy), which removes only the part of the breast with the cancer. Or she could get a double mastectomy, in which both breasts are entirely removed. 

She chose to have a double mastectomy after Dr. McGreevy explained that having breast cancer on one side can increase your risk of developing cancer in the other breast. 

Amanda acknowledges that she chose the more aggressive approach. “I was only 29 at the time, and I was a new mother,” she says. “I didn't want to leave it to chance that it could come back on the other side if we only removed the lump or a small section. I plan on living a lot longer, so I didn’t want anything in the back of my mind for the next 50 or 60 years.”

Amanda also opted for breast reconstruction surgery, in which the breasts are rebuilt to restore their normal appearance. Luckily, a plastic surgeon was able to perform this surgery right after Dr. McGreevy’s operation, so there was no need to schedule a separate procedure later. 

“A lot of patients will sometimes need two to three surgeries to complete their reconstruction, so Amanda got lucky in that aspect,” Dr. McGreevy says.

The Road to Recovery

Both procedures were a success, and Amanda was in recovery at home for eight weeks - something that was both a physical and emotional challenge. For the first week, she had a wound vacuum (a device that decreases pressure over the wound area) that was attached to her chest, along with other various tubes and wires to remove fluid, reduce swelling and prevent infections. 

“I pretty much had no real, close contact with my child [at that time] because I couldn’t risk him pulling or tugging on something,” says Amanda.

The rest of the tubes were removed the day before Christmas Eve, which allowed her to be closer to her son, but she still couldn’t lift anything over 10 pounds (including her baby) until the new year. Still, Amanda credits her son with helping her through this time — not just the surgery and recovery period, but all throughout her cancer journey. 

“If I didn’t have my son, I would not have been able to get through this with the strength that I did,” she says. “I could have very easily just curled into a ball and cried every day, but I had a reason, and I had a light, and I had motivation every single day. I knew I couldn’t just sit and wallow. I had someone who needed me and a reason to get up and live my life.”

Amanda also acknowledges the incredible care she received. “Dr. McGreevy was absolutely amazing,” she says. “I really appreciated that he always spoke to me like a regular person. He didn’t speak to me with super-technical terms, which is important because when you’re going through something like that, you’re not in a complete frame of mind. You’re half listening, and your mind is racing in the back.” 

Dr. McGreevy also encouraged Amanda to call him anytime -  including on his cellphone - whenever she had a question.

Looking Toward the Future and Educating Others

While Amanda is currently cancer-free, her treatment isn’t over yet. To help keep the cancer from returning, she takes medication every day that suppresses her body’s production of estrogen, and she’ll need to take it for five years. 

Looking back, she’s grateful that she kept up with her routine gynecology appointments - especially so soon after giving birth, when the days are a whirlwind of diapers and feedings. The tumor “was very, very new, because it wasn’t there in June [when I got cleared from my pregnancy], and it was there in October,” she says.

Dr. McGreevy agrees that Amanda was fortunate in finding the lump early. “If the cancer [had grown], she may not have been able to have the same treatments and potentially would have required chemotherapy.”

Breast cancer screening normally starts at age 40, he says, “but I always tell my younger patients, if they feel something different or abnormal with their breasts, they should reach out to their primary care doctor, gynecologist or even a breast specialist to get it investigated.”

Amanda, too, has been telling others about her diagnosis and treatment, and she encourages people to stick to their gynecologist visits. She’s also sharing her story with others in the hopes that she can spread awareness about breast cancer in younger women. 

“If it helps even one person, that’s enough for me,” she says.

Next Steps & Resources

• Meet our source(s): Christopher McGreevy, M.D.
• To schedule your annual OB/GYN appointment, call 800-822-8905 or visit our website
• To make an appointment for a mammogram near you, call 800-822-8905 or visit our website
• Learn more about women's health at Hackensack Meridian Health