· By JeanAne Hecht
I am the One
In 2022, breast cancer caused 670,000 deaths globally. It was the most common cancer in women in 157 out of 185 countries. It accounts for about 30% (or 1 in 3) of all new female cancers each year. According to the National Cancer Institute (NCI), a woman born today has about a 1 in 8 chance of being diagnosed with breast cancer at some time during her life. Of those women, 1 in 5 of them will develop Breast Cancer-Related Lymphedema (BCRL).
Too little attention has been paid to the importance of the lymphatic system and its role in the human body and its connection with breast health. In the health-obsessed environment of post- Covid pandemic however, people have become more concerned with optimizing their health and wellness, and many are looking beyond traditional medicine for ways to enhance physical wellbeing through such methods as lymphatic drainage massage.
Statistics show 1 in 5 breast cancer survivors will develop secondary lymphedema. These numbers are most likely higher, due to the fact that many people will never know or be diagnosed with lymphedema. After surgery and the two week post-surgical follow-up has occurred, a patient moves beyond the surgeon’s care and possibly enters that of the medical and radiation oncologist for radiation and/or chemotherapy. So, who diagnoses this disease? How is treatment obtained? Only the outspoken, the persistent, and the insistent who are lucky enough to be diagnosed stand a chance to live with only minimal interruption from this disease. For others, it will progress and become a painful, debilitating, lifelong reminder of surviving cancer that comes with its own medical implications and consequences.
My name is JeanAne, and the DEMA is my journey as a breast cancer survivor searching for a way to alleviate and maybe, one day, end my own BCRL. I invented the DEMA Device out of frustration, indignation, and a refusal to endure one more heartless reminder of cancer's brief presence in my body. I can't wait to introduce it to you in a few months. In the meantime, the DEMA is intended to be a source of information, inspiration, collaboration, and community to help everyone achieve lymphatic wellness, both to prevent future illness and possibly combat existing ones. Because even though I may be the One, we are all in this search together.