When you imagine breast cancer risk, you might think about the BRCA gene (and perhaps Jane’s storyline on The Bold Type). You might remember your doctor or mom asking you if you’ve gotten your mammogram yet, or your friends sharing their stories of checking their breasts for lumps. In other words, there are ways to detect cancer and see it coming, right?Unfortunately, that’s not the case for everyone and in every situation. Jenny Maenpaa, a therapist, was diagnosed at the young age of 39—after having zero symptoms.Ahead, she bravely shares her story and what she wishes she had known earlier.?SIGN UP for Parade’s health newsletter with expert-approved tips, healthy eats, exercises, news & more to help you stay healthy & feel your best self?
That included a mammogram. Maenpaa figured it would help provide a baseline for the future and be a smart idea since the rates of breast cancer diagnoses are rising in young women. However, the process was surprisingly complicated. “Being 39, I initially received resistance to my request, so I argued that being Ashkenazi Jewish, having dense breasts, never having given birth and having a maternal relative who’d had breast cancer increased my risk factors,” she recalls. “While all of those things are true, none of them were particularly concerning for me, since my nana had breast cancer in her 60s and lived well into her 90s, and I knew I had tested negative for the BRCA gene.”
Navigating a Breast Cancer Diagnosis as a Young Woman
The median age for breast cancer in women is 62 years old—much older than Maenpaa was—so relevant information was somewhat scarce.“I am so grateful that my oncologist is the head of the Young Women with Breast Cancer program at Memorial Sloan Kettering, which provides tailored care to women diagnosed under 45,” Maenpaa says. “The conversations we had included information about egg freezing before I started my treatment, preserving my fertility with specific medications during treatment and scalp cooling to prevent hair loss from chemo.”Without a partner or children, she also had to consider who would carry out her normal daily tasks, such as cleaning the apartment, changing the cat litter, bringing boxes up from the mailroom and taking care of her physical needs.
She’s also appreciative of Pilates, a practice she already loved that worked her muscles in a slow, low-impact way. “Pilates allowed me to have gratitude for my strength and allowed me to tolerate the most difficult side effects from treatment a lot better than I would have without it,” she says.
What Treatment Has Looked Like for Maenpaa
Her treatment timeline included five months of weekly chemo, from February to June 2025. She also had to undergo two surgeries (lumpectomy and reconstructive) in July and August, which preceded four weeks of daily radiation in September and October. Additionally, Maenpaa began monoclonal antibody infusions every three weeks starting in April, and that will go through April 2026. As if that wasn't enough, she began getting hormone suppressant injections in February, and that happens every four weeks. Last but not least, she started taking aromatase inhibitors daily after surgery, which are taken for a minimum of five years but may be closer to 10.
Now 40, she considers herself to be in the "phase of survivorship," which means daily pills, injections every few weeks, and regular scans for years. Those scans even include ones as seemingly random as an echocardiogram, since chemo can negatively affect heart functioning. She also has to continue to assess her bone density since treatment lowers estrogen levels, therefore increasing the risk of osteoporosis and fractures.
When it comes to what Maenpaa wishes she’d known, she thinks of the arguments she made to the doctors—ones she didn’t believe were “that big of a deal.”
In reality, she says, dozens of genetic mutations can increase breast cancer risk—not just the BRCA gene. But again, she didn’t learn this until she received a diagnosis.
She also didn’t know (like many of us, I’d guess) that mammograms aren’t as effective at detecting masses in dense breasts as ultrasounds or MRIs. “The density can mask tumors due to appearing the same on imaging,” she explains.
Looking Ahead: What Maenpaa Wants Other People To Know
“While getting treated for cancer isn’t exactly enjoyable, it also doesn’t have to be an absolute nightmare,” she says. “I wanted to show the real parts of treatment—which includes exhaustion, unbearable side effects and physical trauma—but also the days when I felt totally normal and went to happy hour or a Broadway show or even a black tie event.”
Advocate for yourself in healthcare spaces
The other key message she wants to share is that you don’t have to accept a denial from a healthcare provider or insurance company. Along those lines, checking for breast cancer is more vital than you may have been led to believe.
It’s perhaps an understatement to say that Maenpaa is glad she didn’t listen to that medical advice.
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Related: This New Breast Cancer Screening Guideline Could Save Millions of Lives—Is Your Doctor Doing It?
Sources:
Jenny Maenpaa, a therapist who was diagnosed with breast cancer at 39 years old5 Facts About Breast Cancer in Younger Women, Breast Cancer Research FoundationKey Statistics for Breast Cancer, American Cancer SocietyMammograms are less effective for women with dense breast tissue. Medical experts disagree on what to do about it, STATToo Young to Screen: Breast Cancer in Younger Women, Yale MedicineHence then, the article about i had zero symptoms when i was diagnosed with breast cancer at 39 here s what i wish i d known was published today ( ) and is available on Parade ( Saudi Arabia ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
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