A Daughter's Promise: Lifelong Vigilance After Losing Her Mom to Breast Cancer

📋 Episode Description:
In this touching episode of OUTCOMES, we invite you to join us where personal stories not only inspire but educate. Bill Gadless, your host, welcomes Emma DeNunzio, an incredibly brave young woman and a Web Developer Associate at emagine, who shares her life-changing journey.

🌸 A Story That Touches The Heart:
Timed to align with Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Emma bravely allows us into her world, sharing the story of losing her mother to triple-negative breast cancer when Emma was merely 7 years old. Her vulnerability transforms this episode into a conversation of shared experiences and empathetic dialogues.

💞 Beyond The Loss: A Life Shaped by Early Awareness:
The episode transcends the narrative of loss to focus on Emma's resultant healthcare awareness. At just 21, Emma offers wisdom beyond her years, discussing the often-overlooked aspects of healthcare management and preventive measures that she had to acquaint herself with prematurely.

🌟 Education Wrapped in Empathy:
While the episode serves as an eye-opener for early detection and proactive health management, it does so with empathy and respect for Emma's experience. Her story becomes a gentle but potent call-to-action for listeners of all ages.

💡 Why You Can't Miss This Episode:
- Be moved and inspired by Emma's resilience and bravery.
- Gain crucial insights into healthcare awareness and its role in our lives.

🎧 Audio Podcast Links:
Spotify: 
https://tinyurl.com/4cz39rpw

Apple Podcasts: 
https://tinyurl.com/ycy3vfdf

Website: 
https://www.emaginehealth.com/

LinkedIn: 
https://www.linkedin.com/company/emagineusa/

Insights:
https://www.emaginehealth.com/blog/

Thank you for listening to OUTCOMES. Please find more healthcare and biopharma marketing thought leadership in the Insights section of our website and follow us on LinkedIn!

Transcript

0:00

Welcome to Outcomes, the healthcare and biopharma marketing podcast, where marketing leaders discuss the most effective strategies for the health sectors coming from a digital first AI powered perspective. Hello everyone. And welcome to our next episode of the Outcomes podcast. Today I have here with me, Emma DiNunzio. Uh, Emma is a web developer associate. Imagine. And, um, in light of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Emma, um, volunteered to join our podcast here today to tell her personal story. Um, it's a personal story about her mom and, Emma Sadly losing her mom at a very young age Um, and we're going to talk about that. We want to hear uh, emma's story, but we also are going to discuss um What that has meant? to Emma from a health care awareness Management standpoint. We're going to talk about education and the things that she's had to learn and experience Uh that most people at at her age might Not be thinking about, let alone be acting on, and we usually don't talk about ages much here, uh, but I think it's, it's relevant here today. Emma's 21 years old, uh, started here at Imagine as an intern. I think you were 19, right? Yeah, it was. Um, so that's a, that's a really interesting story in itself. Emma, let's just, um, you know, let's just turn this over to you and why don't you just share your story? Yeah. Um, like you said, my name is Emma D'Annunzio. Um, I have been affected directly by breast cancer. Um, I am here to tell my story and I am here to, uh, hopefully inspire you to involve my story in your own life, whether it's with breast cancer checks or somebody you know who is my age. Um, but yeah, my, uh, my mom passed away from triple negative breast cancer in 2009, so I was 7 years old, and she was 36 years old when she passed away. And triple negative breast cancer is a very aggressive form of breast cancer. Uh, it's... aggressive, not only to the specific area, but it's, it spreads. Um, so she had a very long journey, I would say, for the short amount of time that she had it for. Some people fight breast cancer, or cancers in general, for years and years and years and years. Hers was roughly, I would say, three years, on and off, before she kind of... lost the battle, uh, and that was after biopsies, that was after double mastectomies, that was after the full radiation, uh, chemotherapy and everything. Uh, so, yeah, I do have tiny little memories of her, but the ones that I do have aren't necessarily the, the brightest, but yeah. Yeah, you were, you said you were seven years old when she passed away, right? Yeah, yeah, I was. Um, yeah, it's, it's difficult seeing, you know, your mother kind of fade away, you know, it starts, her hair starts to fade, and then her color starts to fade in her face, and then You know, physically she fades away. Uh, so it is difficult being seven years old. And my little brother was four years old at the time. So, so I remember the doctors telling me this was later on at the breast cancer, the breast cancer Institute in Gainesville, Florida, university of Florida, um, they said that I started so young because she passed away so young. So they wanted to start 10 to 15 years prior. Um, the only reason I started at 17 years old was because I was doing those, uh, physical checks on myself. as I was being told to do. And when you're 17 years old, everything is scary. You know, every, any little change in your body is scary. So I did that and I took it to the physician. Um, and it happened that the physician, uh, recommended me or referred me to the specialists. Okay. And so you had to learn about things. I'm curious, how much did you dive in, you know, again, typical young people, including myself, we don't, well, I'm saying back when I was young, not now. Um, we don't think a lot about healthcare. We don't think a lot about our own medical issues because typically we don't have any when, when we're 17 to 21 or even 25, 30 years old. Um, And that's, and that's just reality, uh, statistically, but you, you had to educate yourself more than the typical person would. And so tell me a little bit about that. You know, how did you do it? What did you have to learn? How important has that been to you? And do you continue to, to educate yourself on these issues? Yeah, so before I, you know, went through my journey of my, uh, you know, taking the measures of early detection, if you will, I had no idea, for example, what a mammogram was. I had no idea what the BRCA gene was. I had no idea what triple negative breast cancer was. I just knew that's what my mom passed away from. So It was scary and I believe that all of the education that I got either was from the internet, which kind of is directed towards women in their 40s and 50s. So there's not, there's not as many resources for girls my age who are scared and who have, you know, no other knowledge other than what your physician tells you to do, which is really just what I tell you to do. You know, do your checks, go to your physician, keep a healthy lifestyle. But other than that. It wasn't that much. So I feel like my entire learning process came down to just living through it, you know, step by step, uh, whether it was doing the manual checks, uh, going to my, uh, physician, going to, uh, the radiologist, and then it's ended with doing the blood work for the BRCA gene, but it was very scary. And it wasn't a day's process. It was, months on end. And I think it's important that I'm able to tell my story. So other people don't avoid doing that, if that makes sense. Yeah, well, it does. And I mean, we all know that the unfortunate reality of the healthcare industry is that it. You know, it is largely data driven, numbers driven, money driven, and again, if they know that statistically the vast majority of people that are getting breast cancer are over 40 or over 50 years old, which is true, they gear their guidelines, they gear their, their insurance payment, they gear their education. and outreach to a particular demographic. But I'm sure that you would say that as a young woman who lost a parent. to breast cancer, who was also at a young age, that it would be nice if you had some outreach and education and materials that were really geared toward you. Not just you at 17 or 19 or 21 reading the materials that are for the 40 or 50 or 60 year olds, but education that's geared towards somebody who's young, has fears, has concerns, legitimate ones. Um, and telling you how to manage that and handle that. And you probably didn't get a lot of that. Would that be, would that be accurate? It was mostly your own proactive research where you had, you had to find stuff. Yeah, that's, that's right. Um, and you know, what I would say is it was very difficult for me to kind of begin that process because I felt like. When I was starting, you know, going to the physician and going to the radiologist, in a way, I was kind of speaking it into existence, you know, I was kind of validating, okay, this happened to my mom. So if I'm going through the same process that she's going through, it might happen to me. And that couldn't be further from the truth, because I was kind of leading myself in the dark in the way, like you said, with very little resources for girls my age, it was kind of like, I was a lone wolf, uh, you know, and I had nobody who could relate to me in a way I had nobody who could relate to me. So I was talking to older women who could relate to me because they had experienced that to themselves. Um, but other than, you know, the brochures they hand out or, uh, the statistics that they give you, it really, it was scary. Um, so yeah, I do agree. I wish there were more resources because. Uh, now after, after everything I've gone through, um, since I did test negative for the BRCA gene, uh, they still have me on high alert. So every two years, I think for the rest of my life, and I'm sure it'll heighten once I get into my forties and fifties, I have to go get a mammogram and I'm 21 years old. And that's every two years for the rest of my life because of what happened to my mom with or without the BRCA gene. Um, And I wish that it didn't take my mom passing away for them to take it seriously, because if my mom didn't pass away at such a young age of breast cancer, I never would have gone through the process that I went through. I probably never would have done the self checks. Um, so yeah, it's, it's, it's not accessible for women my age. Right. And would I be right in assuming that, you know, you going to those regular scheduled mammograms and manual checks and everything, that you're happy to do it, right? This is, this is not something you begrudgingly do. You, like you said, you wish that more people who didn't have a mom who passed away probably had more access to diagnostics and, or at least more awareness, correct? Yeah, yeah. Yeah. And. It, it is, it's in a way, unfair, both sides, you know, it's unfair that my mom passed away and now that I'm experiencing this and it's unfair that it takes a close person to pass away that is biologically related to you for them to take it seriously, whether it's your physicians or your health insurance companies, because my health insurance companies would not have, um, paid for it had my physicians not written. Um, I remember they wrote specifically found an abnormal lump in, you know, my chest at 17 years old. And that's how I went through that. And my physician was very, very concerned. Once I mentioned that my mom had triple negative breast cancer, it's kind of like I'm on high alert all of a sudden, like. Now we're going to take her seriously, and that's how I got pushed through with the, with the health insurance and, you know, as far as the University of Florida Cancer, uh, Cancer Association, Cancer Specialists. Um, but had it not been that red flag, it never, everything would have been out of pocket. I never would have made it past a physician. It would just kind of been like, yeah, just check yourself. And when you're 40 years old, yeah, you can, you can start mammograms. Right. But yeah, it's, it's very inaccessible, I would say, unless you have a reason. Um, yeah. And I, you know, you and I, again, we were chatting the other day and sounds like what you kind of balance is, of course, you, of course you have fear, okay, you have legitimate fear. But at the same time, would it be right to say that you also feel empowered? Empowered because you do have more information, you have educated yourself, you have been through it. Um, You're going through those tests, as compared to, again, most of the public, within a certain age bracket, who are generally naive to things that they have not gone through, um, that it empowers you. Would that be a fairly accurate statement? Yeah, and you know, knowledge is power and taking the proactive steps to detect, you know, your risks of breast cancer, you are, like you said, empowering yourself and demonstrating self care. Um, and while you can stay in the dark, and maybe you don't want to know your risks, you don't want to know, you know, what age that you're most likely to get breast cancer. You are putting yourself at a risk by not doing that and I feel that whenever I found out that I Didn't have the Brachygene or after my entire process was complete I felt a massive weight lift off of my shoulders with if I had the Brachygene or not It's still very important that I went through that process Because with the Brachygene, they recommend you do the double mastectomy. They recommend you they treat you like you have You know, something, uh, malicious, but yeah, I feel, you know, like I can share my story with people and I feel that I'm able to kind of live my life normally and not in fear now. And I'm just going to continue living a healthy lifestyle and, you know, continue my checks and go to my, my annual exams or biannual every two years. Well, and I think whether you realize it or not, you're an advocate, um, you know, patient advocacy is, is a huge thing and is tremendously helpful for so many people who, who need information, who need education, who need to hear from people who have lived it. And, you know, you've lived it through your mom's story, but also now through your own personal health care management, again, and early detection and diagnostics and all of those things that you're having to, to live all the time. You are an advocate. And I think, you know, I don't know how. How much you're out there talking about this necessarily, but even being here today and, and you, you stepping forward and wanting to do this, this wasn't something I asked you to do, you volunteered because clearly you care about others hearing about this. To help them, to empower them, to educate them. And that's advocacy, whether you realize it or not, and whether you've ever used that word about yourself or not. Yeah, I really was excited to tell my story, you know, at first it was a very grim story. It affected me and my family, but I'm 21 years old now and in a way it's kind of my turn to step up and it's my turn to, you know, like you said, advocate not only for myself and my health. But for other girls my age, because it's not very often you hear girls my age talking about, you know, they did their self checks or, oh, you know, I went to my physician and I talked about my, my breast cancer health and all of this stuff. And I feel like it should be a conversation that should be had. You know, it's, it's not something that should be brushed under the rug and especially if you know, you have a family history, because if you know, you have a family history, your chances are much higher, especially if it happens to be the BRCA gene. And that's something that you need to mention to your physician, because they care about you, you know, they, they want, that's what they're there for. And it's, it's a long process, but it's so worth it. It's so worth it. Um, and you know, like I said, it's important to prioritize yourself and by taking the steps of, you know, educating yourself, you are, um, affirming yourself in a way. And it's just very, very important to not, you know, put it aside because, uh, even though the statistics are low, you know, you could be an anomaly. And my mom was an anomaly. Right. Um, and just because there are anomalies doesn't mean like I'm safe because I don't have the BRCA gene. I still have the same chance of getting breast cancer as any other woman my age, but that's still a chance, you know? And unfortunately, as I get older, it's, it's a high chance. Um, so, yeah, it's important. Yeah, and, and the anomaly. You know, isn't going to change the guidelines and therefore isn't going to change what tests insurance will pay for. However, the awareness, the advocacy, the education at least allows someone to be as proactive as they can. Maybe, again, somebody who doesn't have your story, and maybe someone who doesn't have the BRCA gene is not going to be able to get mammograms without paying for it out of pocket until they're 40 years old. But still do all the other stuff. There are other things that you can get. You can do the genetic test. You can do at home manual testing. At least learn about all that and do what you can do. Yeah, like... Just because, you know, I, I was thinking about this and if, if I had not done the physical testing, and if I had not been 17 years old, scared for my life, you know, you're 17, everything's crazy. If I had not done the manual testing and found, you know, just the itsy bitsy, you know, dense breast tissue, I probably wouldn't have gone through the journey I had gone through. And that's where it starts is the self testing. And I feel like. A lot of people believe that, you know, cancer testing has all of this crazy, you know, scientific process, like the radiology, the mammograms, ultrasounds, the genetic testing, but really a lot of it is just self testing and knowing your body and knowing, you know, when it changes because a lot of it will go undetected. You won't get to the ultrasounds without, you know, finding some sort of abnormal texture or something like that. So, um, it's important to start square one. When your physician catches it, if they catch it, you know, whether you, you get to 40 years old and it's a mammogram. It could be too late. So Emma, what now, we talked about your story, okay, we talked about your mom, we talked about the things that you have had to do at a young age, starting as early as 17, and even now. Um, still a young lady, but you know, what do you envision this all now meaning to, to the rest of your life and the management of your health care? And that can pertain to breast cancer awareness or anything else. So, you know, what does it all mean to you moving forward? Yeah. So I mentioned that, you know, every two years for the rest of my life, I have to do the. The mammograms. Um, because I am put on high alert. So because of that, I have to pay certain attention to the health care or the health insurance that I pick. I have to make sure that it, it covers my preventative screening. And that's not something that I can skip out on. Um, and it's sometimes difficult to kind of navigate that as a young woman. You know, you don't always have all the answers. And I don't have all the answers for my health insurance. I don't know what's going to cover this. I don't know what's going to cover that. I don't, I don't know. But it's important that. You communicate these things with your physician so that they can again communicate that with your health insurance provider. Um, because like I said, had I not mentioned that my mom had triple negative breast cancer and passed away at 36 years old, I never, I never would, would have been covered. Um, and that's something that I will always be on high alert for for the rest of my life. Um, and as I hit my 40s and my 50s, it will become more and more important for me. Um, as any other woman, um, and it's not a joke by that time, it's, it's not something that you can just do your self screening get away with because, uh, it's not always a superficial feeling that you have. It's not always a texture. Sometimes it's hidden. Sure. Um, maybe in your lymph nodes, maybe in hidden in dense breast tissue. Sure. Um. And as your body changes, it becomes more difficult to kind of navigate that yourself. So, yeah, it's definitely something I'll have to live with for the rest of my life, but I'm, I'm not scared of it. No, and I think that attitude goes to, you know, I've, you you were 19 years old. And aside from you sharing your personal story, which, which none of us knew that. Back then, you know, I think everybody here was always from day one impressed with, um, just your, your, your, your strength, your independence. Um, it just, it's something that shines through in your personality. And when you learn about this aspect of you and you hear your story for one starts to make more sense. Okay. Um, but also just. I mean, I'll just say I, I, I can't imagine having to navigate, first of all, can't imagine what you had to go through personally, but having to navigate healthcare issues, diagnostics, genetic testing. At 17, 18, 19 years old, people, people in their 40s and 50s and 60s can't do this. We don't, you know, we don't know what to do as, as, as people who aren't in the system. We're all having to learn, we're all going to get better at it. This is an era of patient activation and, and, and people having to own their own healthcare more than they ever did before. But not at 17 years old. And so again, I just think that's another testament to, you know, you're a, you're an inspiring person. You're, you're a strong person. You're determined, you're educated, you're independent, you're all those things. And, you know, like I said, it's, it's noticeable from the moment somebody meets you. Um, but again, to continue hearing more and more about your story, it's just, uh, it's just impressive what you've, what you've done again, going back to the fear and we all have it. Right? We all live with fear of, and the older you get, it's almost like life becomes one test to the next test and that's, feels like that's all you're doing is, is what's the next part of my body they need to look at and determine nothing's wrong there, right? And so, so the fear never goes away. Thank you. Bye. I think, and this can go either way, but the more education you have, the more proactive you are with things, you really can reduce that fear. Sometimes it's actually hurtful to know too much. And those are, you know, people that spend all their time on Google and, and leap to things that aren't even wrong with them. And we know there's the dangers in that. However, for the real things that We all should have legitimate concerns about. I do think the more educated you can become about them, and therefore the more proactive you can be about them, then you can manage that fear and anxiety. Because, because we're never going to eliminate the risk. The risk of these things is just a reality of humanity. But we can manage fear and anxiety. Yeah, and you know, Sometimes you can turn fear into a good thing. Sometimes you can turn fear into something that motivates you. You know, um, I, there was never one point where I wasn't scared. You know, I, I was scared whenever I was doing the self checks and I found what turned out to be Brent that are. dense breast tissue. I was scared when I went to the physician and she had a concerned look on her face and she was writing in her lab report. I was scared whenever I was getting pricked by needles. I was scared whenever I was in these massive mammogram machines. Um, and it kind of never really ended, but it's not always a bad thing, you know, being scared. Emma, one of the other things that you and I were chatting about was how you were saying a lot of young people, um, and maybe this is yourself, uh, don't go to routine doctor's appointments, even annual physicals, that, that everything's fine, and until something's wrong, maybe I have strep throat or maybe I've got COVID or something, uh, or an injury, then you go get checked out, um, and, and the point you were trying to make was don't, don't do it that way. What is it you have to say about that? Uh, I was just kind of trying to voice that you shouldn't skip your annual healthcare appointments, and if you don't have them, make them, you know, at least once a year. See a doctor, you know, they, whether they're, they might not test you for anything, but, you know, they know the human body, they know the anatomy, and it's important to get checked if you're not doing it yourself. which you should go once a year. Um, and like I said, voice your concerns with your family history because people my age and I'm guilty of it, like, before this I didn't go to the doctor except when I needed to. We had, the only annual physicals we had was when we played sports. That's kind of a requirement. If we didn't have sports and we weren't required to, we wouldn't go. Um, so yeah, it's just important to, you know, see a physician at least once a year, just to make sure you're okay. Yeah. Agreed. So Emma, I really appreciate you sharing your story today. This is, this has been. Really great and impactful. Um, I, I hope you continue to share it a lot more. Um, like I said, this is advocacy and I think that there's a lot of people out there that can benefit from not only your personal story, but the education that you have and the information that you can share. So I hope you'll continue to do it, um, beyond just this podcast episode today, because not only is it important, but you're good at it too. Thank you. Yeah. Knowledge is power. Um, take advantage of that power. Don't go crazy on Google. All right, Emma. This was great. Thanks so much. Really appreciate it. Pleasure.