As part of NewsChannel 7’s commitment to fighting the battle against cancer, every month we bring you, in partnership with the American Cancer Society, Health Check 7 – a report filled with life-saving information.

For March, our focus is on inflammatory breast cancer – a disease the new Wausau City Attorney fought and won.

"I was diagnosed with inflammatory breast cancer on October 4, 2004 and at that time was given a 40% chance to live five years,” Anne Jacobson said. "You know, everybody's journey is personal, but for me, I wasn't ready to leave so I was going to do whatever I could to aggressively attack this in anyway I could."

And after a combination of surgeries, chemotherapy, five different drugs and radiation – there’s no more cancer in her body.

“I feel extremely blessed,” Anne said. “I don't feel lucky. I feel blessed."

But Anne’s story may have been different if she hadn’t had an MRI.

"You would never detect inflammatory breast cancer with a mammogram and that's the message I always try to get out because it’s detected mostly through the combination of ultrasound and MRI's and those are not routine or inexpensive screening tools for most women,” she said.

The reason it’s not detected with routine exams is because there is typically no lump.

"The breast will swell and it will get red or have kind of a striped appearance,” said Anne.

There are several other symptoms as well, but it should be noted just because this type of breast cancer is not detected by self-exams or mammograms, it doesn’t mean you should stop doing them.

As Anne points out, the best idea is to be your own health advocate.

"If you think something's wrong, ask questions. Keep going back,” she said. "You know your body best."

And if you find out you are battling cancer like Anne did, she has some advice for making it through the emotional battles that come with it.

"The biggest thing it taught me was patience and acceptance. Just accept your situation with grace and keep a positive attitude and always hold out hope. Then you move forward."

If you would like to read more of Anne’s story, you should check out a book entitled ‘Leap of Faith.’ Her story is one of several cancer survivor’s in the book compiled by former Packer LeRoy Butler.

If you would like more information on inflammatory breast cancer, click on the link below.

http://www.cancer.org/docroot/CRI/content/CRI_2_6X_Inflammatory_Breast_Cancer.asp