Adam Walchak, MD

In March 2022, my sister discovered a lump in her breast completely by accident. I consider myself pretty on top of these things, but I decided to do an impromptu self-exam and I also found a lump. From there, both of us went through mammograms, biopsies, and countless appointments before being diagnosed with breast cancer within a week of each other. It was surreal.

My cancer journey began in late 2021 when I began experiencing feelings of sickness, most often after eating. One night in February 2022, however, it became clear food was not the issue.

I’m the kind of guy who can sleep anytime, anywhere, so when the pain in my abdomen got so bad that I couldn’t sleep, I finally told my wife I needed to go to the ER. The doctors there did some testing and scans, but all they found was an infection, so they gave me an IV and antibiotics. After a few days, when I felt better, they sent me home.

A few years ago, when I was 46, something unusual showed up on my yearly mammogram. So they did an ultrasound and said I should come back every six months for monitoring for the next two years.

For 18 months, there was no change. Then, in April of 2023, I went for my last follow-up scan. When we finished, instead of sending me home, the radiologist came into the room to talk to me. I knew then that something wasn’t right.

She said there had been a change since my last scan. It looked like I had a malignancy in my right breast, and we would need a biopsy to be sure.