As Breast Cancer Awareness Month wound down, a Palm Beach County survivor is urging women not to put off their screenings. Jerry Lederman da Silva said she avoided mammograms for nearly a decade, and a routine test ultimately found her cancer.
She was 60 in 2024 when she noticed a change and went to her gynecologist, who sent her for a mammogram. The diagnosis followed. Lederman da Silva, now cancer-free after chemotherapy, a mastectomy and radiation, said she wants other women to act sooner than she did.
Her care was handled at the HCA Florida JFK Hospital Breast Center in Palm Beach County. Dr. Dianne Georgian-Smith, the center’s radiologist and director of imaging, said women should get screening mammograms every year starting at age 40, so tumors are found before they grow large.
Georgian-Smith said about 10% of women who get a screening mammogram are called back for more testing, and only a rare number of those callbacks turn out to be cancer. She also addressed a common misconception: being female and getting older are the two biggest risk factors, not just family history. She said she prefers both 2D and 3D mammography, accepting a small increase in radiation for a better chance of catching cancer early.
