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Test Those Breasts ™️
This podcast by Jamie Vaughn is a deep-dive discussion on a myriad of breast cancer topics, such as early detection, the initial shock of diagnosis, testing/scans, treatment, loss of hair, caregiving, surgery, emotional support, and advocacy.
These episodes will include breast cancer survivors, thrivers, caregivers, surgeons, oncologists, therapists, and other specialists who can speak to many different topics.
Disclaimer: I am not a doctor and not all information in this podcast comes from qualified health care providers, therefore does not constitute medical advice. For personalized medical advice, you should reach out to one of the qualified healthcare providers interviewed on this podcast and/or seek medical advice from your own providers.
Test Those Breasts ™️
Ep. 94: Anna Crollman on Surviving, Thriving, and Fighting for Health Equity"
🗓️ Episode Summary:
In this fiery and inspiring episode, host Jamie Vaughn welcomes Anna Crollman—10-year breast cancer survivor, founder of My Cancer Chic, national patient advocate, and cause marketing manager at Cake Body. Anna shares her personal journey from diagnosis at age 27 to becoming a force for healthcare equity and empowerment. The two dive deep into survivorship, relationship dynamics, fertility preservation, the politics of healthcare, and why knowing your breast cancer risk today could save your life tomorrow.
💡 What You’ll Learn:
- Who Anna was before breast cancer—and how the diagnosis changed everything.
- How she discovered her lump, advocated fiercely for fertility preservation, and fired her first doctor.
- The real deal about young women and breast cancer—hint: yes, it happens, and it’s often aggressive.
- The healthcare system’s blind spots when it comes to young people, insurance gaps, and access to screening.
- Why healthcare is political—and why that matters to you, even if you’re healthy.
- Tangible calls to action that everyone—diagnosed or not—should take today.
🔗 Connect with Anna Crollman – My Cancer Chic
📍 Website: https://www.mycancerchic.com
📧 Email: MyCancerChic@gmail.com
📸 Instagram: @MyCancerChic
📌 TikTok: @MyCancerChic
📌 Pinterest: @MyCancerChic
📘 Facebook: @MyCancerChic
🐦 Twitter (X): https://mycancerchic.com/Twitter
▶️ YouTube: www.mycancerchic.com/YouTube
🧬 Risk Assessment Tools:
🍋 Know Your Lemons Risk Assessment: https://knowyourlemons.org/risk-assessment
🌸 Bright Pink – Assess Your Risk: https://www.brightpink.org/assessyourrisk
🌼 Organizations Anna Works With:
- AIRS Foundation – Advocating for access and education on breast reconstruction: https://airsfoundation.org
- Cake Body – Cause-driven body care, where Anna leads cause marketing:
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Where to find Jamie:
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Jamie Vaughn in the News!
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I am not a doctor and not all information in this podcast comes from qualified healthcare providers, therefore may not constitute medical advice. For personalized medical advice, you should reach out to one of the qualified healthcare providers interviewed on this podcast and/or seek medical advice from your own providers .
Hello friends, welcome back to the Test those Breasts podcast. I am your host, jamie Vaughn. I'm a retired teacher of 20 years and a breast cancer thriver turned staunch, unapologetic, loud supporter and advocate for others, bringing education and awareness through a myriad of medical experts, therapists, caregivers and other survivors. A breast cancer diagnosis is incredibly overwhelming, with the mounds of information out there, and other survivors A breast cancer diagnosis is incredibly overwhelming, with the mounds of information out there, especially on Dr Google. I get it. I'm not a doctor and I know how important it is to uncover accurate information, which is my ongoing mission through my nonprofit. The podcast includes personal stories and opinions from breast cancer survivors and professional physicians, providing the most up-to-date information. At the time of recording Evidence, research and practices are always changing, so please check the date of the recording and always refer to your medical professionals for the most up-to-date information. I hope you find this podcast a source of inspiration and support from my guests. Their contact information is in the show notes, so please feel free to reach out to them. We have an enormous breast cancer community ready to support you in so many ways.
Speaker 1:Now let's listen to the next episode of Test those Breasts. Well, hello, friends, Welcome back to this episode of Test those Breasts. I am your host, jamie Vaughn, and today I am so excited to have my guest, anna Krollman, on my show, and I have been following Anna for at least a year and I just really resonate with her. Anna is a 10-year breast cancer survivor, founder of the blog and social media platform, my Cancer Chic, where she provides raw and authentic resources and insight for those facing breast cancer. She is also a national patient advocate with multiple breast cancer organizations, fighting for healthcare access and improved outcomes, and works closely with Ayers Foundation, shifting the narrative on breast reconstruction. Well hello, anna, welcome to my show. How?
Speaker 2:are you? I'm so good, I'm so glad we finally connected. I know the conversation about getting on for this discussion has been going on for a while, so I'm so glad to be here yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, as I said earlier, I've been following you for quite some time. You're very charismatic. You clearly have a lot of knowledge and resources and interest in helping our breast cancer community at large and I've learned a lot from you and you're just a very magnetic person. I love that magnetic. Okay, I'm going to start using that. I love it. As my audience knows, I took a little hiatus since last February and I finally had my 93rd episode, that released last week. And here you are. Jamie Vaughn is back in action with Test those Breasts I would love for you to share. I always ask breast cancer survivors this question because it's so intriguing to me, because everybody seems to have this some similarities and some differences. But who was Anna before breast cancer?
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh, I love this question because I think it's so many times overlooked. We're only looking at like the who is the woman and the person going through treatment or who is she after and how has she changed her life, which is so great. Right, we all have gone through so much trauma and I think that triggers growth and change. But for me it's almost surreal really thinking about that person before. I think she was very naive about the world just in terms of risk and health and trauma.
Speaker 2:I had a very smooth, easy childhood with very supportive parents. I went to school to be a teacher. I had dedicated my life to serving children and really just living out this purpose and plan that I had. And around the time when I was diagnosed, I was going through actually a pretty big life change surrounding just my career. I really had become burned out at a very young age teaching and that's a whole other discussion for another time about our broken educational system but I had just left the education system.
Speaker 2:I was a newlywed of one year. I was trying to figure out, like what am I going to do with my life? Where is this passion? Like what am I going to do? And I also just was going through a lot of insecurity, I think, as a young adult. You're no longer in college, You're no longer living at home. You're kind of trying to figure out like, who am I? And it was kind of in the midst of all of that. I hadn't found really my voice yet. I was changing kind of friend groups, and so it was in the midst of all of that that I was diagnosed with breast cancer, and so that's just kind of like a little snippet of the pre-cancer Anna.
Speaker 1:Very interesting. So how old were you when you were diagnosed?
Speaker 2:I was 27. So still like very early you know, kind of in my career, in my life, and like we had just bought a house, I was just married a year, like all of these kind of new life, new kind of adulthood milestones, and you really think like, oh, I'm invincible, like the world is in front of me, I get to choose whatever I want about life. And then you have this really crazy health scare happen.
Speaker 1:Right, and that really squashes that myth of only older people get breast cancer and only older people should have, you know, mammograms or any you know, any kind of health check for your breasts. That's what I thought. I always try to make sure that people know that part of my audience that I really want to target are people who have never been diagnosed, especially young women, and I actually had a friend one time asked me why are you targeting people like that? Because I know that sounds negative, not targeting, but yeah, audience, I want to reach them.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they're your ideal audience, yes.
Speaker 1:And she says why are you doing that? It's not even on their radar. And I said that's exactly why I want people who have never been diagnosed, I want young women to be listening and I want men to be listening, because men can get breast cancer as well. So just the mere fact that you were 27 years old wasn't probably anywhere on your radar that you would get breast cancer. And then, on top of that, you were newly married. And this, I know we didn't talk about this before, but this brings me around to this idea of when you get married, you know it's in love, it's in sickness and in health, right? So your husband, just a year prior, was like I will be there for you in sickness and health, and then, all of a sudden, you get breast cancer a year later. That must have been really interesting too. Wow, you were like really serious when we were standing up there getting married, right?
Speaker 2:Yes, and I feel so lucky that I had the partner that I did. But I also want to acknowledge that when you're newlyweds, you are also still working through your relationship. Luckily, even though we were only one year newlyweds, we had been engaged for over a year and a half and before that we had been together three years, so we had at least a five-year span of our relationship, which I think is important when I talk about having the benefit of that structural kind of foundation of a relationship, but also as a newlywed, you're figuring out what does it mean to be married? How am I going to interact with this person? How is our communication going to change so many of these pieces that you haven't really figured out yet?
Speaker 2:And then to have that tested with this kind of traumatic well, this very traumatic experience and suddenly, like you said, you are literally testing in sickness and health. Is this person going to be able to show up for me? Are they going to be able to be supportive? Are they being able to be a communicator and literally a caregiver? Right, like one minute, they're your spouse and your partner and you are kind of peers in this relationship, and the next they are your caregiver, and it happens in the blink of an eye, so it's also not something that you get time to prepare for. You're both thrown into that and I feel so lucky that I had a partner that was able to step up to the plate. But I think it's super important to acknowledge that for many patients that is not the case, and my heart goes out to all of them.
Speaker 1:They say like 40% of marriages break up with a breast cancer or any kind of illness, I would imagine. But it's pretty high and in comparison, I was just about to have my 17th wedding anniversary to my husband. But I mean, even then, you know, it's like we went into this and we had some struggles. You know, we definitely had some struggles, but we made it through. He was a great caregiver. We definitely had different ideas on things and we even interviewed on this podcast about that. The caregiver, the husband, wife and caregiver. So kudos to you guys, because you've been in survivorship. Well, we're always in survivorship once we're even diagnosed. But that was 10 years ago, right, yeah.
Speaker 1:And so tell us, walk us through what your diagnosis was, what was happening, how you found out, and all the things.
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh, all the things. Well, I am going to try to keep this a little bit on the shorter side. I mean not too too long. We don't want to bore the folks. Not that the story is boring, but I think over the years it's also been interesting.
Speaker 2:So I want to go into this like dialogue of sharing this with the mindset, or with the disclaimer, that I have now told this story and reflected on it probably thousands and thousands of times. And so if there are things that I say that without maybe, like the cadence of emotion or, like you know, the reaction to emotion, I think it's important for, like the newly diagnosed listeners to know that, like, this is the 10 year out version. This is the. I've told this story a thousand times but it never takes away from, like, the meaning and the value of the experience. But I do think, when we're speaking to both those that have been impacted and those that haven't, that it's important to bring attention to that of how words matter and your experience, but that it just your voice changes over time.
Speaker 2:And so for me, as we just talked about, I was diagnosed as a newlywed and the one kind of biggest thread of what shaped my treatment plan and the timing and everything was, honestly, fertility. So at the time I had recently gone off birth control for the very first time in my life. I'd been on it since I was like 14 or 15. And now I was 27, going off on the medication, like what's my cycle going to be like? They're just these very normal young adult things. And thinking that year we were going to start a family. We both felt very ready and that was this main focus in my life. And so I was in the shower we were actually living with my mother-in-law at the time in between houses and I discovered a lump in my breast in the shower, which is when so many women discover a lump is when they're showering, because at a young age you're generally not in the habit of doing self-breast exams and being 27, washing your body is when that kind of happens. And so once I found that I was so lucky to have a general care practice where I went to the gynecologist because that was just who I went to I said I don't know who to go to, I'm freaked out, let me go to a gynecologist. And I hear so many stories from women that at that stage of saying I'm freaked out, something's not right, I want this checked. They're dismissed, and I feel so grateful that I went into this clinic.
Speaker 2:The woman that reviewed me reassured me. She said it's probably a fibroadenoma. Many young women get breast cysts and they're completely benign. But she said I think we should send you for an ultrasound. I think you should go get it checked out, just to be safe, just to be safe, just for peace of mind, and then from there it just all you know, like the vomiting of, like everything, it's okay. Ultrasound Now another ultrasound, now the doctor's concerned. A mammogram, another mammogram and then a biopsy.
Speaker 2:And so within about gosh, two weeks, I had a diagnosis of triple positive stage two B breast cancer, which was very aggressive, which, as I'm sure you know, breast cancer in young women is generally more aggressive.
Speaker 2:And so, since fertility was really at the forefront of my life plan at that time, my care team was very supportive.
Speaker 2:Well, the first doctor wasn't I fired him, the rest of my kids, he was very supportive of me prioritizing fertility treatment.
Speaker 2:So what I ended up doing was scheduling my treatment in a way that I ended up having a single mastectomy very quickly, within like three to four weeks of my diagnosis and then allowing for a two and a half week period to do a full IVF cycle, harvest eggs, fertilize the eggs, fertilize the embryos, freeze those and then begin chemotherapy.
Speaker 2:So this is something that I always try to bring up is like if your care team is not listening to you about this and you want to have fertility options later, fire your care team. Like I understand that we all have aggressive breast cancer at a young age and many of us have to make quick decisions, but it is also your prerogative to say this is very important to me I need to do this now and two weeks is not going to make a difference in my care. So I felt very grateful about that and really kind of my whole care was shaped in that way. I went on to do chemotherapy Lupron to shut down my ovarian function and then, following chemotherapy, had a second mastectomy prophylactically and began the seven-year process of reconstruction Seven to 10 years, I guess you should say.
Speaker 1:So I love that you. It seems that at a very young age you knew how to advocate for yourself. And some people are really nervous to do that because whatever their doctor says which of course we want to trust our doctors, trust our you know the professionals right, but not all doctors are created equal in their bedside manner, in their care for you, their holistic care for you. And so wow, firing your doctor at such a young age and good for you and you and you got what you wanted, right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I think you know, like, okay, I'm thinking now like what set me up to be able to do that? Right, I think one thing was I and this is just like the universe right Like, oh, I was in the right time at the right place with the right people. I was working in a university setting at the same place where the hospital was, so I was working for professors who were literally doing cancer research was. So I was working for professors who were literally doing cancer research and I was able to go to them and say who should I have as my oncologist? So the minute that first oncologist said and again, no disrespect to him, his focus was geriatric oncology. I was not the right patient for him either, but I was able to then go to my colleagues and say, okay, you know the best doctors in this research field, who should I be going to? I want someone that's going to recognize what I need as a young cancer patient, got a fantastic recommendation and she was a wonderful fit.
Speaker 2:So I think there is the piece of having those connections and being able to do that, but also recognizing that if you have a horrible reaction to a doctor, it's probably not the right fit and it's okay to say that. I think, like you said, we're so conditioned to think like doctors know best and we do whatever they say. But you as a patient are validated in feeling respected and feeling listened to and feeling like your care priorities are being incorporated. And if they're not, there's absolutely nothing wrong with getting a second, third, fourth opinion. And I think one of the things that I realized through my experience and I try to tell other people is that it's actually super common to get multiple opinions and if a medical provider is not okay with you getting a second opinion, that is a very big red flag.
Speaker 1:Yes, it is. I actually. You know, I was 54 at the time when I was diagnosed and that was the first time I really had to advocate for myself and get different opinions Because, as we know, with breast cancer, you know, other things come about For me. I developed this really rare anemia and my oncologist didn't realize that it wasn't the kind of anemia that was an iron deficiency. And she kept telling me to go home and eat a big steak. But it wasn't an iron deficiency. And she kept telling me to go home, eat at home and eat a big steak. And but it wasn't an iron deficiency, it was a.
Speaker 1:It was a rare anemia that came out of a thymoma tumor that they discovered and I had to get a second and third opinion on that and luckily I did because I was able to get on the right path and get that taken care of. But but it can be a really scary thing to tell your doctor no, I'm going to go get a second opinion and you're going to like it, you're, you know you're going to be okay with it, and they should be, and any surgeon and other doctors that I've interviewed they've even said the same thing. It's like you should go get one, because what's going to happen is is, if you do and you end up coming back to them and and you know, going through them, you're going to be a lot more compliant, you are going to feel a lot more comfortable in that you looked at different avenues of what is possible for you, so I just love that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I love that.
Speaker 2:Advocate for you're going to be more informed, right, you're going to be more informed about your options, about what you want, and just like able to ask better questions, which I think, like at the root of everything is just questions, yeah Right, like it doesn't have to be defensive, it doesn't have to be there's something wrong with you. It's like I always come from a perspective of like seek to better understand. So like, if you don't, if you're not liking what your doctor's saying or you don't agree with it, like, well, where's the research? Can you share that research with me? Or like, what is that based on or can you help me understand this? And leading from that, I think, creates a more comfortable space to talk about anything related to your treatment.
Speaker 1:Definitely, definitely. So you're in your survivorship. What made you want to work with other breast cancer survivors? Because when I was diagnosed, I was told from a friend of mine who had had breast cancer several years prior. When she found out about me, she's like oh my God, jamie, you are about to embark on the sisterhood of all sisters. And she was right, because I'm in. The breast cancer community is huge and some of us go on. And one of my friends just said this the other day when I was at yoga with her. She says you know, some of us get breast cancer and we just kind of go about our lives and do whatever. Not everybody goes into that advocacy role. I did because I was like I thought I knew a lot about breast cancer but I learned so much since then. So what made you want to help others in the way that you do?
Speaker 2:made you want to help others in the way that you do. I think, for me, the reason I started sharing and speaking out was really because of a need that I ran into myself. I mean, when I was first diagnosed it was 2015. Social media like Instagram had not really taken off. Tiktok hasn't even been developed yet. Like their blogs were where people were going for information Pinterest, some of those places and since I was in the habit of going to those resources for support for other things in life, like outfits and makeup and the more appearance related things, that's where I turned to for cancer support because I thought, well, I'm now going through this thing, somebody else must be writing about it, and at the time, there was very, very little out there. There were a few medical sites Breastcancerorg was around. There were a few other very trusted websites with factual information but even then there weren't a ton of patient stories out there, and so I actually had mentioned.
Speaker 2:I was kind of going through this phase in my life where I was trying to figure out what is my passion, what am I into? What do I want to do now that I'm not pursuing this career in teaching that I thought was going to be my life's work, and a couple of friends had encouraged me to start sharing, like to start a blog to share about beauty tips and fashion and things like that. And, to be honest, I was just really insecure, like I did not have the confidence to get out there and put my voice out there, because I kept thinking, like what do I have to share that somebody else doesn't already have? Just like inner negative monologue. And so when I was diagnosed you know it's it's like dark humor now, but I think I think at the time I thought well, here's my niche.
Speaker 2:Like cancer, cancer, young adult cancer like this is something that's not out there. At the time it wasn't being talked about openly. I was one of the first accounts to essentially start sharing chemo hair loss photos, real young women going through mastectomy. I put it all out there and I think it was really because I saw the person like me. I was like, if I'm out here searching for this, there's got to be another world out there where other people want that too. And so it was very, very scary at first I'm not going to lie I didn't have any idea what I was doing developing a blog and sharing these photos but that was really my goal from the beginning was like if this is a gap for me, it has to be a gap for others. So let me start sharing it now, while I'm in the deepest, darkest part, so that then this account of the reality of what it's like to go through cancer is there to be able to hopefully inspire others or help them kind of through the same phase of life.
Speaker 1:I love that. Yeah, when I first was diagnosed, I found a book called Pretty Sick. I don't know if you've ever heard of it, but this gal, she was in the beauty industry and she was a really out there in the public. She put on, I think. If I remember correctly, she put on events, and so she was out there in front of people and she went on a mission to find things that she can do to keep herself healthy, whether you know, and what kind of makeup would be good to use, what kind of hair product, all the things. And then it included links in there where you can find certain things. So I went in there and bought a bunch of stuff. That's amazing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm going to look that up. That's exactly like what I was looking for at the time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was pretty cool, and so my point in telling you that is you're right, we're looking for it, and so there is a wide audience of people who are looking for what you do. So, my Cancer Chic, can you share a little bit about that and what that encompasses?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean so at the beginning it was a blog, it was a WordPress website that I just started as a little bit of a diary, you know. I mean I didn't know what I was doing in terms of, like, marketing it and SEO and all of this stuff, but I knew that people wanted those stories and so I just figured let's start sharing it. Over the years, you know, it has become more of a broader community across platforms, so it's now not just my blog, it's Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok, Facebook, all of the places I'm available in all the places. But it's essentially a network of support for young women going through cancer. I don't discriminate, all ages are welcome, Anyone diagnosed with cancer is welcome.
Speaker 2:But the majority of the content is really focused on the breast cancer experience, going through treatment as well as coping with survivorship, and I think the underlying theme of everything related to my Cancer Sheik is that you can still find yourself and find happiness after going through cancer or through as you're going through cancer, but recognizing that it is going to have an impact on your life and so helping people kind of work through that emotionally, physically, psychologically, and then see the potential for their life afterwards.
Speaker 2:So I feel so honored that I get to share that content, that I get to kind of make it my life's work to be able to be an advocate in this space and do the work both on my pages on my Cancer Chic, and then also work with national organizations, and then at my job at Cakes Body I am the cause marketing manager as well, so I really kind of get to run the full gamut of how does breast cancer impact our lives and how can we help both those who have been impacted and those that we hope can understand their risk and maybe take preventative actions or more proactive health actions.
Speaker 1:I love that. What a great service you provide, platform you provide, and then you are connected well-connected with all aspects, which is really cool. If you go there, I'm just noticing there's so much information on there that anyone might be looking for. I want to shift gears for a minute, because one of the things that drew me to you a year ago, and then really just up to present day, is you are very focused also on this healthcare system and access. That is such a huge theme right now, and it has been for a while, but it just seems like it's more at the forefront. What do you think the system still gets wrong about? Supporting young cancer survivors, because this is huge, particularly those who are like juggling careers, fertility, like yourself. Obviously you went through all of this stuff and finances. What is it that the health care system gets wrong?
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh. So many things, but let me think about what one thing I can focus on. I think one thing that is the most important thing for us to understand is that many young cancer survivors do not have access to insurance. They are one of the larger groups that needs Medicaid access. Young people are. A lot of them are on Medicaid, and this is something that obviously is in the news right now. Medicaid is being increased, so I think it's really a very overlooked population when it comes to healthcare access, because we're generally, as a society, thinking young people are healthy, but the reality is that young people have health concerns of all kinds and should have access to preventative healthcare services. So, yes, the cancer survivors are completely overlooked, but also proactive healthcare.
Speaker 2:Why is it that young people are not able to get access to cancer screenings?
Speaker 2:Why is it that we do not have more holistic care when it comes to women's health, whether that's your like you said, your fertility, better understanding your ovarian function, better understanding birth control, side effects, endometriosis like it runs the gamut, but I think at the core of it is that young people are a very overlooked population when it comes to thinking about insurance, thinking about access, and then you layer on the financial aspect as well.
Speaker 2:So it all is kind of interconnected. But young people, particularly in kind of that 18 to, let's say, 30-year-old range, are so susceptible to medical debt because they do not usually have an established career. They may or may not still be on their parents' insurance or may not have insurance at all, they might be in a gap period, and then they also generally don't have life savings. Now, this can obviously be true for younger people as well, but I think I could go on and on about this topic. But I think it's just such an overlooked population and when we think about healthcare access and we think about healthcare services, we generally think much later in life for the need and we just we have to shift that thinking because it's just not true.
Speaker 1:Well, and I and I think it's really important, you just said something a little while ago Generally they think that younger people are healthy. I was healthy too when I was diagnosed, and I was older, I was 54, right. So there's this myth that healthy people can't get cancer, but they can.
Speaker 2:Oh, so glad you said that, yes, everybody has cancer cells. Yes, and it's like not something that you did right. I was the healthiest I ever thought I was when cancer was trying to kill me. I was eating vegan, I was drinking 150 ounces of water a day, I was walking, I was doing Pilates All the things that they say to do for your health. Cancer can still hit. It has nothing to do with whether or not you were doing healthy habits. Yes, healthy habits can reduce your risk, but I always tell everybody I'm like a rogue. Cancer cell is in your body at every single moment of every day. It's just a matter of whether it starts multiplying, and that's not something that, like, we can know at a time.
Speaker 1:So you kind of touched on this a little bit in giving it, showing us a picture of what it could look like. But what about you? How might your story have been different had you not had a good insurance and a strong support system? And because we do know that not everyone has a great support system either, not everyone has a great husband, or who are parents or friends. So what, what might have looked different for you?
Speaker 2:I think the biggest thing that I see and I imagine how it would have been different for me is the initial diagnosis stage. I think, since I was working for the state and I had insurance, I had the privilege to be able to quickly like within 48 hours book an appointment with my gynecologist and get in for care. I think for many young people they do not have insurance coverage so they're delaying scans and then that delays treatment, which then has a really horrific impact on your overall outcomes, and I think people don't realize that. They think I'll just put it off. One, it could be really scary. Two, I may not have insurance. Or, three, I don't have the money to pay for the co-pays or the out-of-pocket.
Speaker 2:And so if you think about a healthcare system that is failing young people, it's delaying the diagnosis and when that happens it impacts what your treatment options are, what chemotherapies are available to you. It's impacting the stage of your cancer. I think like, okay, I was already stage two B, I could have been a stage three or even diagnosed. Many of my friends were diagnosed stage four de novo, which essentially for those of your audience that don't know means that the cancer has already spread outside to other organs in your body, meaning like it was caught too late, and then your treatment options are limited, and so you know it's just. Your situation is going to change based on your diagnosis timeframe and your staging and so many factors. And so I think the biggest thing for me was, if I didn't have the support, the healthcare, the insurance, all of those things, my outcomes could have been very different, and many people in our population, that is the reality right now.
Speaker 1:Well, and I like that idea that you amplify the fact that you know that you were very privileged, and I think a lot of people have a hard time recognizing what that privilege looks like, especially when it comes to policies that cut Medicaid. It's like this idea that people have Medicaid that don't deserve it, so how do we decide who deserves it and who doesn't deserve it? This part is really tricky for me to think about, because if they don't have access, they're not going to be able to survive necessarily, right yeah?
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know, I saw something recently and it might have been when a couple of their breast cancer survivors and I were doing some advocacy before this recent budget bill passed, and we were doing some advocacy around Medicaid and I read something that said a healthier population is better for every economy. So if we want to really break that down, if we're so tied to this kind of myth that Medicaid patients are taking advantage of the system or don't need it, the reality is when people are healthy, they're able to work, they're able to contribute to society, they're able to be a wonderful community member and support schools, and just there's so many factors of our community that are impacted when people are healthy. And when we take away healthcare access whether that's Medicaid or increasing costs sicker people are going to negatively impact the economy, not at their own fault, it's just that they can't work. Bills go unpaid. It's a huge toll on hospitals, particularly rural hospitals. We have a lot of rural hospitals where I am in North Carolina and when people are sicker and can't pay, that means those hospitals, those EMSs, those urgent cares are closing. The number of them closing in my area is terrifying.
Speaker 2:So when people say when the generic people, the generic people in society or politicians say, well, let's just cut Medicaid, like we don't need these people on there. They're not understanding this like holistic cycle of how people's sickness impacts the whole economy. It impacts our communities, and so I think that's what the system gets so wrong about. How are we going to address these issues? Is we have to think about it in the big picture? We have to think about so wrong about how are we going to address these issues? Is we have to think about it in the big picture? We have to think about it about how it impacts jobs and people and schools and our communities and, at least in my opinion, you know it's better for everybody to be healthy, Right?
Speaker 1:Well, and when we talk about you know, when we talk about politics, you know there's this idea that people like us, like a podcaster for breast cancer, have a blog. You know advocacy work for breast cancer Healthcare isn't political, but we know that healthcare is political. Unfortunately it's political. Yeah, I wish it wasn't, and I know that sometimes some of us get pushback when we talk about health care in connection with politics, but we have to help people understand that it is political. What do you have to say about that? What is your experience with that? And just again, share all the things.
Speaker 2:Well, I mean, you know I think you had mentioned that, you know I had I got a lot of hate on my page around breast cancer and cancer advocacy when it came to election time and advocating for a certain candidate, and I think what a lot of people get wrong about this discussion is that, you know, cancer and health does not have to be political. But policies that are decided by our politicians impact health care. They impact health care access, they impact health care treatment, they impact which treatments we can have, which studies we can have, and there is no way to take that out. But what is important to remember is that it is not a political line in the sand. It doesn't have to be Republicans or Democrats. Have the power in office to vote for policies that support healthcare patients Like that is just an open, that's an open thing that they can do. Now do we see trends that Democrats generally support more healthcare supportive policies than Republicans? Yes, that is just the. That is the reality of the trends and the numbers and the receipts. Right, we have them, we've seen them.
Speaker 2:But I think at the end of the day, it's important to remember that every single politician, no matter their party affiliation, has the ability to vote for or against policies that are going to hurt cancer survivors, and so, yes, it is 100% political. We cannot take that away, because our lives are impacted by policy. I think social media and politics has become such a controversial topic, but if we really zoom out, we have to think about that. Political figures are how policy is made and policies are decisions that impact the lives of citizens in our country. And so if we really zoom out to that level, of course healthcare is political because the policies impact us and in order to run a gigantic healthcare system and have you know like norms right For like these are the policies we follow and this is how we do things. It's just the reality. So, to anybody that comes for me saying healthcare is not political, I've got plenty of receipts for you and I'm glad to bring them up.
Speaker 1:Well, and I think it's really important to amplify to everyone that this applies to every single person. This isn't just us, this isn't just sick people. You know you connected it to the economy how healthy people create a healthy economy, and so I'm always into giving calls to action to people you know, in order to at least pay attention to what's happening, because a lot of those policies, those bills that are going through are kind of in secret. We're going to pass this without the general population really even knowing anything about it, and that's a big deal. I have a real problem with that, with the secrecy or the package all put together that looks really good but it's really not. So I really believe that people need to pay attention to what's happening because it can, and most likely will, directly impact your life or somebody that you love. Yeah, it's so important.
Speaker 1:Just to kind of wrap things up, I always ask what is one of the biggest pieces of advice that you can give to people who've never been diagnosed? They're listening to you, they know you were diagnosed at age 27,. Young, healthy, all the things. And this can go out to other people who are older that just have never been diagnosed. What kind of piece of advice. Can you leave them with?
Speaker 2:I'm with you. I love a very strong call to action that is very clear. So I already got my points ready. Number one is find out your breast cancer risk. There are two main websites that are available. I'm sure, jamie, you can link them. So, one find out your breast cancer risk. That's going to help you. Then open the door for conversations about your family history. So that's number two find out your family history.
Speaker 2:I did not know I had a grandmother that was diagnosed with breast cancer until I had been diagnosed. And you know, these conversations just many times do not come up, especially, you know, in different well, one, in different cultures it's not acceptable to talk about. And two, in my family it just didn't seem relevant. I was young and healthy. So I think, one, find out your risk. Two, have a conversation with your family, find out your family history. And then three, find out from your doctor if you have dense breasts. This is particularly common in young women and can lead to some additional screening. And then four is just do yourself breast exams at home. So those are four things you can do literally today and they really could truly make a difference.
Speaker 2:Because, jamie, I think, like we've talked about today and I'm sure you've talked about in other podcasts. Cancer can happen to anybody, and so we don't want to scare you. It's not to say like this will happen to you. It's more to say, be empowered with the information you need so that you can be proactive in your care, proactive in your understanding of breast cancer, versus having to be very reactive. So I really hope everyone feels super inspired to go take some action today. Know your risk. That is the most important thing.
Speaker 1:And I always tell people know your lemons, I'm a lemonista. I don't know if I told you that before.
Speaker 2:I love that. No, you didn't. I love that. Yeah, you didn't, I love that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I really was drawn to know your lemons, just for the whole visual part of it. So I became a lemonista and I've taught breast cancer classes and little did I know. Most people don't even do a breast exam properly on themselves, a self exam, and so I've really made sure that people understand how to do that and also some of the myths. One of the things that you just brought up in your advice is knowing your family history, and I think sometimes people, if they know their family history, sometimes people don't think that they can still get breast cancer. And I and there's a large amount of people who can get breast cancer who don't even have it in their family. I never did.
Speaker 1:But also to your point about your grandmother, a lot of people didn't really talk about breast cancer back in the day. They were very secretive about it. They just you just never knew that grandma had. You know breast cancer, cervical cancer, you know colon cancer. We're a lot more loud today. I'm on unapologetic loud. Well, anna, this has just been such a wonderful conversation. I'm so glad that we were able to connect and you just seem to have, you know, just a myriad of different you know pieces of experience and knowledge, especially when it comes to also healthcare access for young women, how to advocate for yourself, and I just love that and I just really appreciate your being here. Is there anything you'd like to leave us with before we disconnect today?
Speaker 2:Oh gosh, we talked about so many different things today, so I think, at the root of all of it, I would say that we all have the power to feel empowered about our health care, and that education is the key right, whether that is when you're going through cancer or before cancer, or whether it has nothing to do with cancer, maybe it's about your nutrition or anything like that. I think the one thing I want people to take away is that your health truly is precious, and you are the only one that's going to care about it as much as you care about it. And so, you know, start doing some things today to kind of understand your body a little bit more. And, jamie, you know, start doing some things today to kind of understand your body a little bit more. And, jamie, thank you so much for having me. This was just such a lovely conversation and I get a little fired up about these topics I care about. So you and I both were like let's get loud, right?
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I'm going to put your website in the show notes and how to connect with you on your socials. And yeah, I'm just I'm excited to be connected with you and to my audience. I really appreciate your joining me again on this episode of Test those Breasts, and do not forget to go and visit Anna Krollman on my Cancer Chic on all of the platforms and the website, and thank you again for joining us. We'll see you next time on this, on the next episode of Test those Breasts. Bye for now, friends.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much for listening to this episode of Test those Breasts. I hope you got some great much needed information that will help you with your journey. As always, I am open to guests to add value to my show and I'm also open to being a guest on other podcasts where I can add value. So please reach out if you'd like to collaborate. My contact information is in the show notes and, as a reminder, rating, reviewing and sharing this podcast will truly help build a bigger audience all over the world. I thank you for your efforts. I look forward to sharing my next episode of Test those Breasts.
