I don’t want to say they were judging me, but I was young, I was uninsured and they were like - too bad for you.”Ĭole was angry, for all the many reasons. “People would look at me with an expression that read - you’re young, you don’t have resources - and they blew me off because of that. “The healthcare world was cold,” she said. Her first impressions weren’t what she might have hoped for. Because of her youth, she was told she must begin aggressive chemotherapy within weeks, and to plan on dealing with its many side effects, including hair loss.Ĭole’s foray into the dizzying world of cancer care had begun. One week after her 28 th birthday, Cole underwent surgery – a lumpectomy – to remove a small tumor, later diagnosed as Stage 1, Grade 1, infiltrating ductal carcinoma. In a first for the Nevada breast-health community, a diverse group of the region’s leading healthcare providers will announce Wednesday, 10/2 at the Paint Nevada Pink event, their commitment to unified recommendations in how women are guided to breast cancer screening based on their age and personal risk assessment. Now a Program Manager at Nevada Cancer Coalition, a statewide non-profit with a mission to improve cancer prevention, early detection, survivorship and advocacy, Cole helped lead the Northern Nevada Breast Cancer Collaborative to recommend uniform breast cancer screening guidelines based on a woman’s personal risk assessment. Forged in the fire of two breast cancer diagnoses – one at 27 and another at 38 less than a month after giving birth to her son – Brigette Cole is both cancer survivor and patient advocate, for herself and for the thousands of Nevada women who also will hear the dreaded words, “You have breast cancer.” The temporary daze of the next few days would belie what has become a life’s work on behalf of cancer patients.

“The technician is taking lots of pictures and says, ‘I’m going to get the radiologist.’ The radiologist enters the room and almost without preamble says, ‘I think you have breast cancer and you should start researching financial assistance and other means of support.’” Two weeks later she has a mammogram, followed minutes later by an ultrasound. A not-quite 28-year-old woman - newly relocated, unemployed, and uninsured - feels a small lump on her left breast.

David baker forged in fire