Ashley Kennedy was 37 years old when she received her first mammogram and was diagnosed with breast cancer. For treatment, she opted for a unilateral mastectomy (the removal of one breast) and three years of hormone therapy. While navigating her health journey, Kennedy leaned on the support of her family. Kennedy remembers her late grandmother telling her scriptures and assuring her that everything was going to be okay. Kennedy says like her, her grandmother was also diagnosed with the disease in her mid-30s.
Kennedy and her grandmother’s story is the story of more and more in the U.S. Data reveals there’s been a growing increase in the number of younger women being diagnosed with breast cancer. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, at least 27,136 women under the age of 45 were diagnosed with breast cancer in 2022.
October marks National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. On Thursday’s edition of “Closer Look,” program host Rose Scott talked with Kennedy, who is participating in the 2025 Komen Georgia MORE THAN PINK Walk, Theru Ross, the senior program manager of community outreach at Susan G. Komen, and Dr. Joel Okoli, a professor of surgery in the division of Surgical Oncology at Morehouse School of Medicine. The guest discussed everything from diagnosis to treatment, as well as the importance of younger women participating in clinical research trials.
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