“If I had skipped my mammogram, it could have been fatal.”

Joan Leicht was only 40. She never expected cancer.

Joan Leicht of Bethlehem had her first annual mammogram at Breast Health Services at Lehigh Valley Hospital-Muhlenberg. Because she was only 40, “I never really thought there was going to be a problem, even when I had to have additional views taken.”

But she had ductal carcinoma -- tumors so small, even a self-exam wouldn’t have picked them up. Her surgeon, Mark Schadt, M.D., and her radiologists, Marie Rob, M.D., and Al Dandejian, M.D., explained her options. Ms. Leicht chose lumpectomy followed by radiation therapy, and was successfully treated right here in Bethlehem.

Now, Ms. Leicht reminds everyone she knows to get checked, and she already has an appointment for her next annual mammogram. “I’m so grateful the age for regular mammograms was lowered to 40,” she says. “If it was still 50, they might never have caught it.”

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