When the doctor advised her to get a mammogram done, Chen Ying's first reaction was one of despair. "The thought that my worst fears could come true sent a chill down my spine," recalls Chen, a manager of an aircraft factory in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province.
The mammogram revealed the 46-year-old mother of an 18-year-old girl had late stage cancer in her left breast. The oncologist was clear: Remove the breast or face death.
Chen agreed to the mastectomy and chemotherapy in 2008.
She first noticed the lump in her left breast in the spring of 2007 but had ignored it. "I thought, I live a healthy lifestyle and am a good person. Cancer would never find me; the lump would disappear by itself," recalls Chen.
Instead, the lump began to grow - and did so rapidly. In August last year, Chen noted some fluid oozing out of her nipple. But she put off seeing a doctor until November. And when she did, the diagnosis was breast cancer.
Chen's agony was avoidable, but, unfortunately, is becoming increasingly common in the country.
At a recent national conference on the early detection and treatment of cancer held in Chengdu, Kong Lingzhi, deputy director of the disease prevention and control bureau of the Health Ministry said that "owing to changes in lifestyle and diet, breast cancer is spreading more rapidly in China than in Western countries".
She cited figures from the third national survey on causes of death, which suggest that the mortality rate of breast cancer increased 68.6 percent between 2004 and 2005, compared with 1990 to 1992.
Nationally, breast cancer ranks eighth among deaths caused by malignant tumors.
Qiao Youlin, an internationally acclaimed epidemiologist from the Cancer Institute of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, says that breast cancer is the most common malignant tumor afflicting women in cities such as Shanghai and Beijing.
In Beijing alone, where the population stands at 10 million, nearly 50 out of every 100,000 women were diagnosed with breast cancer in 2004, the highest rate in the country and 10 percent higher than in 2000.
More alarmingly, the disease is afflicting younger and younger women. "In 2000 to 2001, the most vulnerable group in the capital was the 45 to 50 age group. "That is five years younger than the most vulnerable group between 1982 and 1983," says Qiao.
One celebrity victim was Chinese movie star Chen Xiaoxu who was only 42 when she lost her battle against breast cancer in 2007.
No one knows why. While breast cancer has been extensively studied in the West, experts have little idea about the risk factors in China, says Dr Li Jiayuan from the West China School of Public Health at Sichuan University.
Li has noticed that the risk factors in the West are strongly associated with family history, being overweight, and reproduction and endocrine problems. They may apply in China as well. But she also believes environmental factors and chemicals play a role here.
She points at the unhealthy lifestyle of younger women - a lack of regular exercise and a penchant for deep-fried chicken or hot dogs. "These fast foods are high in fat, protein and sugar. Chicken and beef are often full of hormones."
Misinformation may also keep women from recognizing or minimizing their risk of breast cancer," warns Li. She notes a couple of common falsehoods - that stress and wearing wired-bras can cause the disease.
Unfortunately, a large number of Chinese women remain ignorant or oblivious to the mounting danger.
To catch the No 1 killer of Chinese women early, and to improve their breast health, the Chinese medical community launched a review last month, in an attempt to discover the clinical features and epidemiological trend of breast cancer.(China Daily)
But how to reverse the vicious circle now that women and men are right now positioned at the "equal" start point for the cut-throat social competition?
