The ongoing COVID-19 public health crisis may have discouraged some people from getting scheduled medical checkups, but experts and one courageous cancer survivor are urging women to keep up with regular breast exams and self-checks at home — simple choices that can save lives.
Phoenix resident Cheri Valentino said she was first diagnosed late last year, more than a decade after beginning her annual mammograms. Despite annual screenings, she first recognized she had a problem after a self-check she did at home.
“I had regularly done self-checks and that is actually how I found it last year,” Ms. Valentino said. “I’ve had lumps in the past — they were benign — but have kept an eye on them. But then last year, I realized doing my self-check that in one of the areas where I’d had a lump previously, it appeared the lump was getting bigger and changing shape a little bit.”
