Virginia Carnesale Tells PEOPLE the Breast Cancer Index Test® “Changed Her Life”
In a new article in PEOPLE magazine, Virginia Carnesale shares her experience of being diagnosed with breast cancer after her very first mammogram, and how her Breast Cancer Index test results helped her take an active role in her long-term treatment decisions.
“I hadn’t felt sick or noticed any lumps … this was supposed to be a routine exam,” she told PEOPLE.
In the article, Carnesale explains how, after a stage 2B diagnosis, she underwent a double mastectomy, chemotherapy and radiation, and was advised to take 10 years of endocrine therapy.
“When the side effects [of endocrine therapy] really started to kick in, it was hard not to feel sad, depressed and broken,” she said.
A few years into treatment, Carnesale “learned about something called the Breast Cancer Index (BCI), a test that analyzes gene activity in a breast cancer tumor to help predict whether a patient is likely to benefit from additional endocrine therapy,” wrote PEOPLE.
“After everything I’d been through, I wanted to make sure that another five years of treatment would actually benefit me,” she told the magazine.