As a Gen Z woman, I didn’t know much about breast cancer until it hit home. In May, I lost my aunt to the disease. It was my first encounter with breast cancer. Suddenly, the disease wasn’t a distant threat – it was here, in my own family.
Since then, a quiet fear has taken root: Will I also get breast cancer when I grow older?
I began noticing that I’m not the only one feeling afraid. It lingers in the background for the other young women in my family too.
While not all breast cancer is hereditary, the emotional toll makes it feel like it is. Behind every diagnosis, is another woman in the family quietly grappling with fear, grief and uncertainty.
To understand the impact of this, I spoke with medical experts and young women who have grown up under the shadow of breast cancer.
Dr Mok Chi Wei, senior consultant at the department of breast surgery at Changi General Hospital, said: “Many young women, often daughters of my patients, ask: ‘Will this be me too?’ ‘Should I get tested?, ‘How can I prevent this?’
"Even if they do not fully understand the diagnosis, [they] may pick up on the stress, fear and disruption it brings to the family. As they grow, some develop anxiety, avoidance behaviours or a deep fear of their own future.”
Dr Mok added that about 5-10 per cent of breast cancers are due to inherited genetic mutations like BRCA1 or BRCA2. “The majority are influenced by lifestyle, hormonal and environmental factors, including age, obesity, alcohol use, hormone exposure and reproductive history,” he said.
If a mother carries a hereditary mutation, like BRCA1 or BRCA2, each of her children has a 50 per cent chance of inheriting that mutation. (Photo: iStock/Chinnapong)
Dr Priyanka Rajendram, the clinical head of cancer prevention and control at Singapore Cancer Society, told CNA Women that for many young women, the fear of breast cancer is not just shaped by medical risk factors but also lived experiences.
“I saw an 18-year-old girl who initially noticed a lump in her breast in the last two weeks with no other apparent symptoms. When I did the physical examination, I was shocked to see that this lump was the size of a rock melon,” she said.
“I asked how long the lump had been there, and she revealed it had been present for at least a year. She had finally come to the clinic because she knew something was wrong.
“Both her mother and grandmother had breast cancer, but she had delayed seeking help for so long because her sisters told her it was pointless, which saddened me deeply,” said Dr Rajendram.
“In her case, she and her sisters were deeply affected by witnessing parental cancer, to the point that her sisters felt going for a check-up was pointless.”
For Sarah Ali, 22, breast cancer is a constant presence in her family. She was 16 when she came face-to-face with it through her grandmother. It was the latter’s second battle with the disease – her first brush with breast cancer happened before Sarah was born.
It felt foreign to her, just hushed conversations behind closed doors among the elders and a lingering sense that something serious was happening. Though her grandmother survived, the illness cast a shadow over her family.
In July 2024, Sarah’s mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. While it was caught in the early stages, it shifted the young woman’s life completely.
Sarah Ali with her mother, who overcame breast cancer. (Photo: Sarah Ali)
“I was young when my grandma was diagnosed, so I couldn’t fully understand what breast cancer was. But when I witnessed my mum go through it, I felt like it’s real and the worry started creeping in,” said the youngest of three sisters.
“My mum also told us, you all have to take care because it can be in your future,” she said.
Those words hit Sarah hard. She remembers every detail of her mother’s cancer journey with painful clarity. When her mother was in surgery, Sarah was thousands of kilometres away in Glasgow, Scotland, on a school exchange programme, as part of her nursing degree.
The distance did not soften the fear, it magnified it. “I wanted to be by her side but I could not. Tears were flowing while I was in class. I felt super anxious and kept texting my family members for updates,” Sarah said.
Then, just as she was starting to process her mother’s recovery, her aunt was diagnosed with breast cancer.
"Will it be me or any of my sisters? Or all of us?” said Sarah. “I do not want my siblings or myself to get it. But at the same time, the odds are the odds and it makes you question: Why does it have to be us?”
Krosha Elanjezhiyan, 23, lost her mother to breast cancer in 2020, when she was 18.
"We went to Spain and she was having high fevers on the trip. After the trip, she went to the hospital and was diagnosed with breast cancer,” she recalled. “We also discovered that it was late-stage breast cancer.”
Her mother died within two months.
Krosha Elanjezhiyan was in her first year of polytechnic when her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. (Photo: Krosha Elanjezhiyan)
“I didn’t have very close moments with her during her last moments because she lost her voice and she didn’t want me around – there wasn’t proper closure,” said Krosha.
“There were a lot of points I felt very lonely on the journey. I couldn’t open up to my family members even when they were there. At that very young age, I was not sure what I should do and what could have been done.”
Dr Rajendram said this kind of emotional distancing from the patient is not uncommon. A mother’s diagnosis can strain the parent-child relationship, especially when caregiving roles begin to shift, or when the mother feels fear or guilt about possibly passing on a genetic risk.
In some cases, the emotional burden may cause her to withdraw from her children.
Krosha, who lost her father at 15, said the grief was immense but it came with clarity.
"I was already prepared. I had already experienced the loss of my father before, so when my cousin told me what was happening and that my mum would be gone in one week, I knew I had to be strong and work on being independent,” she told CNA Women.
Both Sarah and Kroshasay their fear has evolved into something more powerful: Awareness and anticipation.
Sarah found comfort in the fact that the three women in her family had their cancer detected early and didn’t have to undergo mastectomies. That hope anchors her – with the right treatment, she too, can win the battle if she ever faces it.
Sarah as a baby in her grandmother’s arms with her mother and brother by her side. (Photo: Sarah Ali)
Her family’s lifestyle has also changed drastically since her mother’s diagnosis. They eat less sugar, exercise more, and fruits and vegetables are now a staple at meals.
"We are more intentional about how we live now. It’s not always easy, especially at a young age but I know I have to take charge of my body,” she said. Sarah has also started doing breast self-examinations.
Still, when it comes to genetic testing or counselling, she said she is not ready.
"I don’t know if I want to explore genetic counselling,” she admitted. “I know that just because my mum or grandma has breast cancer, that doesn’t automatically mean I will be a carrier but getting that kind of information just feels too real. Seeing it on paper would ignite more fear than I already have now.”
Krosha, on the other hand, is open to genetic testing. Her mother had found a lump but ignored it and the delay proved devastating.
"The fear is definitely there but I would rather go for a genetic test to be aware and prevent it. If my mum had [checked] the lump earlier she may have been saved, who knows?” she said.
Other Gen Z women have also turned their mother’s experience with breast cancer into a source of empowerment. Kelly Chang, 24, was 10 when her mother had breast cancer.
"I asked her, ‘Oh, are you going to die?’ But, she was really reassuring and I felt like at that time it didn’t feel very scary, because she was so reassuring,” she said.
Reflecting on her mum’s journey, Chang added: “I feel like cancer is not as scary as people think. If you detect it early, there are always good treatment options available.”
To promote early detection, Chang’s mother put up a door hanger in their bathroom encouraging regular self-breast examinations. As a volunteer with the Breast Cancer Foundation, she frequently brings Chang along to events, where they work together to raise awareness for the disease.
Kelly Chang’s mother, a breast cancer survivor, put up a reminder in the bathroom to do regular breast self-examinations. (Photo: Kelly Chang)
Dr Rajendram and Dr Mok noted that one of the most practical steps young women can take at this stage of their lives is to understand their individual risk, especially if there is a noticeable family history of breast cancer.
They recommend exploring options such as genetic counselling, a testing process that helps individuals find out if they carry a particular gene mutation that contributes to cancer.
Doctors that CNA Women spoke to said they are seeing more young women being proactive about finding ways to take charge of their health. (Photo: iStock/liza5450)
Jeanette Yuen, a principal genetic counsellor at the Cancer Genetics Centre at National Cancer Centre Singapore who specialises in the management of hereditary cancer syndrome spoke to CNA Women. She said adult females above the age of 21 with a family history of cancer can consider receiving genetic counselling to determine if they are eligible for genetic testing.
“Most of the young women who come in are prompted by a personal history or a strong family history of cancer, but there are also those who come in simply because they have become more aware,” she said.
Depending on the complexity of the test, the cost can range from S$300 to S$3,000.
“We are trying to figure it out before the cancer even happens. The journey that you would have when you know your risk is very different from someone who found out the risk after having cancer,” said Yuen.
“If you’re noticing a pattern of cancer, especially affecting many within the family, especially at a young age, the best thing you can do is to get a genetic counselling appointment.”
The first step of genetic counselling is assessment, where the genetic counsellor looks at medical history from both sides of the family, ideally covering three generations.
“That helps the genetic counsellor to assess how likely you may have inherited a genetic condition and if genetic testing is recommended for you,” Yuen said.
She added that genetic counselling is highly individualised and depends on a person’s specific family history. “The best person to test is always the individual with cancer in the family. But if they are not around, we may recommend testing other family members.”
Instead of mammograms, breast magnetic resonance imaging scans are a more suitable screening tool for younger women as they have denser breasts. (Photo: iStock/utah778)
“If someone tests positive from genetic testing and has Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer (HBOC) Syndrome, they have up to 70 to 80 per cent increased risk of breast cancer as compared to the general population of 13 per cent,” said Yuen.
If you test positive for HBOC, the genetic counsellor will then recommend a personalised screening schedule which is more frequent and regular. This could involve yearly breast screening such as breast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans and mammograms from the age of 25.
Such women are managed for life (until they reach 70 to 80 years old) and they will also be given a follow-up referral to a breast specialist. The discussions with the genetic counsellor also include implications for future children, existing children and other family members.
If your genetic test results do not identify inherited cancer risk, but you have a family history of breast cancer, earlier breast screening will be recommended.
“The standard is usually to recommend breast screening about five to 10 years before the earliest breast cancer diagnosis in the family. So for example, if a mum had breast cancer at 45, I would recommend her daughter to go for breast screening from age 35-40,” said Yuen.
She added that in the public sector, people can go to the National Cancer Centre Singapore and National Cancer Institute Singapore for cancer genetic testing.
Yuen encourages individuals, especially young women, to be breast aware.
In a breast self-examination, a woman uses both touch and sight to check for unusual changes in her breasts. (Photo: iStock/icetocker)
“From the age of 18 years old, they can start doing breast examinations on themselves every few months. Do a three-finger circular check around the breasts on a regular basis to understand if there are any changes to their breasts.”
She stressed that if you notice any lumps, dimpling or skin texture changes, it’s important to seek medical advice promptly.
Lifestyle also plays a significant role in influencing one’s risk. Get regular exercise and maintain a good diet, limit alcohol and avoid smoking.
All the experts CNA Women spoke to have a common piece of advice: Talk about your fears.
Dr Rajendram said: “For many, these worries are carried in silence, creating a sense of isolation from friends or family who may not fully understand or be open to having these conversations. In our experience, offering age-appropriate information and creating supportive, safe spaces makes a real difference."
Young women can approach the Breast Cancer Foundation and Singapore Cancer Society, which offer counselling services and support groups tailored to young women at risk or affected by breast cancer.
CNA Women is a section on CNA Lifestyle that seeks to inform, empower and inspire the modern woman. If you have women-related news, issues and ideas to share with us, email CNAWomen [at] mediacorp.com.sg.
Continue reading...
Since then, a quiet fear has taken root: Will I also get breast cancer when I grow older?
I began noticing that I’m not the only one feeling afraid. It lingers in the background for the other young women in my family too.
While not all breast cancer is hereditary, the emotional toll makes it feel like it is. Behind every diagnosis, is another woman in the family quietly grappling with fear, grief and uncertainty.
To understand the impact of this, I spoke with medical experts and young women who have grown up under the shadow of breast cancer.
Dr Mok Chi Wei, senior consultant at the department of breast surgery at Changi General Hospital, said: “Many young women, often daughters of my patients, ask: ‘Will this be me too?’ ‘Should I get tested?, ‘How can I prevent this?’
"Even if they do not fully understand the diagnosis, [they] may pick up on the stress, fear and disruption it brings to the family. As they grow, some develop anxiety, avoidance behaviours or a deep fear of their own future.”
Dr Mok added that about 5-10 per cent of breast cancers are due to inherited genetic mutations like BRCA1 or BRCA2. “The majority are influenced by lifestyle, hormonal and environmental factors, including age, obesity, alcohol use, hormone exposure and reproductive history,” he said.
If a mother carries a hereditary mutation, like BRCA1 or BRCA2, each of her children has a 50 per cent chance of inheriting that mutation. (Photo: iStock/Chinnapong)
Dr Priyanka Rajendram, the clinical head of cancer prevention and control at Singapore Cancer Society, told CNA Women that for many young women, the fear of breast cancer is not just shaped by medical risk factors but also lived experiences.
“I saw an 18-year-old girl who initially noticed a lump in her breast in the last two weeks with no other apparent symptoms. When I did the physical examination, I was shocked to see that this lump was the size of a rock melon,” she said.
“I asked how long the lump had been there, and she revealed it had been present for at least a year. She had finally come to the clinic because she knew something was wrong.
“Both her mother and grandmother had breast cancer, but she had delayed seeking help for so long because her sisters told her it was pointless, which saddened me deeply,” said Dr Rajendram.
“In her case, she and her sisters were deeply affected by witnessing parental cancer, to the point that her sisters felt going for a check-up was pointless.”
LIVING THROUGH A LOVED ONE’S DIAGNOSIS
For Sarah Ali, 22, breast cancer is a constant presence in her family. She was 16 when she came face-to-face with it through her grandmother. It was the latter’s second battle with the disease – her first brush with breast cancer happened before Sarah was born.
It felt foreign to her, just hushed conversations behind closed doors among the elders and a lingering sense that something serious was happening. Though her grandmother survived, the illness cast a shadow over her family.
In July 2024, Sarah’s mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. While it was caught in the early stages, it shifted the young woman’s life completely.
Sarah Ali with her mother, who overcame breast cancer. (Photo: Sarah Ali)
“I was young when my grandma was diagnosed, so I couldn’t fully understand what breast cancer was. But when I witnessed my mum go through it, I felt like it’s real and the worry started creeping in,” said the youngest of three sisters.
“My mum also told us, you all have to take care because it can be in your future,” she said.
Those words hit Sarah hard. She remembers every detail of her mother’s cancer journey with painful clarity. When her mother was in surgery, Sarah was thousands of kilometres away in Glasgow, Scotland, on a school exchange programme, as part of her nursing degree.
The distance did not soften the fear, it magnified it. “I wanted to be by her side but I could not. Tears were flowing while I was in class. I felt super anxious and kept texting my family members for updates,” Sarah said.
Then, just as she was starting to process her mother’s recovery, her aunt was diagnosed with breast cancer.
"Will it be me or any of my sisters? Or all of us?” said Sarah. “I do not want my siblings or myself to get it. But at the same time, the odds are the odds and it makes you question: Why does it have to be us?”
Krosha Elanjezhiyan, 23, lost her mother to breast cancer in 2020, when she was 18.
"We went to Spain and she was having high fevers on the trip. After the trip, she went to the hospital and was diagnosed with breast cancer,” she recalled. “We also discovered that it was late-stage breast cancer.”
Her mother died within two months.
Krosha Elanjezhiyan was in her first year of polytechnic when her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. (Photo: Krosha Elanjezhiyan)
“I didn’t have very close moments with her during her last moments because she lost her voice and she didn’t want me around – there wasn’t proper closure,” said Krosha.
“There were a lot of points I felt very lonely on the journey. I couldn’t open up to my family members even when they were there. At that very young age, I was not sure what I should do and what could have been done.”
Dr Rajendram said this kind of emotional distancing from the patient is not uncommon. A mother’s diagnosis can strain the parent-child relationship, especially when caregiving roles begin to shift, or when the mother feels fear or guilt about possibly passing on a genetic risk.
In some cases, the emotional burden may cause her to withdraw from her children.
Krosha, who lost her father at 15, said the grief was immense but it came with clarity.
"I was already prepared. I had already experienced the loss of my father before, so when my cousin told me what was happening and that my mum would be gone in one week, I knew I had to be strong and work on being independent,” she told CNA Women.
BREAST CANCER IN THE FAMILY: FROM FEAR TO EMPOWERMENT
Both Sarah and Kroshasay their fear has evolved into something more powerful: Awareness and anticipation.
Sarah found comfort in the fact that the three women in her family had their cancer detected early and didn’t have to undergo mastectomies. That hope anchors her – with the right treatment, she too, can win the battle if she ever faces it.
Sarah as a baby in her grandmother’s arms with her mother and brother by her side. (Photo: Sarah Ali)
Her family’s lifestyle has also changed drastically since her mother’s diagnosis. They eat less sugar, exercise more, and fruits and vegetables are now a staple at meals.
"We are more intentional about how we live now. It’s not always easy, especially at a young age but I know I have to take charge of my body,” she said. Sarah has also started doing breast self-examinations.
Still, when it comes to genetic testing or counselling, she said she is not ready.
"I don’t know if I want to explore genetic counselling,” she admitted. “I know that just because my mum or grandma has breast cancer, that doesn’t automatically mean I will be a carrier but getting that kind of information just feels too real. Seeing it on paper would ignite more fear than I already have now.”
Krosha, on the other hand, is open to genetic testing. Her mother had found a lump but ignored it and the delay proved devastating.
"The fear is definitely there but I would rather go for a genetic test to be aware and prevent it. If my mum had [checked] the lump earlier she may have been saved, who knows?” she said.
Other Gen Z women have also turned their mother’s experience with breast cancer into a source of empowerment. Kelly Chang, 24, was 10 when her mother had breast cancer.
"I asked her, ‘Oh, are you going to die?’ But, she was really reassuring and I felt like at that time it didn’t feel very scary, because she was so reassuring,” she said.
Reflecting on her mum’s journey, Chang added: “I feel like cancer is not as scary as people think. If you detect it early, there are always good treatment options available.”
To promote early detection, Chang’s mother put up a door hanger in their bathroom encouraging regular self-breast examinations. As a volunteer with the Breast Cancer Foundation, she frequently brings Chang along to events, where they work together to raise awareness for the disease.
Kelly Chang’s mother, a breast cancer survivor, put up a reminder in the bathroom to do regular breast self-examinations. (Photo: Kelly Chang)
GENETIC COUNSELLING – A WAY TO RULE OUT YOUR RISK
Dr Rajendram and Dr Mok noted that one of the most practical steps young women can take at this stage of their lives is to understand their individual risk, especially if there is a noticeable family history of breast cancer.
They recommend exploring options such as genetic counselling, a testing process that helps individuals find out if they carry a particular gene mutation that contributes to cancer.
Doctors that CNA Women spoke to said they are seeing more young women being proactive about finding ways to take charge of their health. (Photo: iStock/liza5450)
Jeanette Yuen, a principal genetic counsellor at the Cancer Genetics Centre at National Cancer Centre Singapore who specialises in the management of hereditary cancer syndrome spoke to CNA Women. She said adult females above the age of 21 with a family history of cancer can consider receiving genetic counselling to determine if they are eligible for genetic testing.
“Most of the young women who come in are prompted by a personal history or a strong family history of cancer, but there are also those who come in simply because they have become more aware,” she said.
Depending on the complexity of the test, the cost can range from S$300 to S$3,000.
“We are trying to figure it out before the cancer even happens. The journey that you would have when you know your risk is very different from someone who found out the risk after having cancer,” said Yuen.
“If you’re noticing a pattern of cancer, especially affecting many within the family, especially at a young age, the best thing you can do is to get a genetic counselling appointment.”
The first step of genetic counselling is assessment, where the genetic counsellor looks at medical history from both sides of the family, ideally covering three generations.
“That helps the genetic counsellor to assess how likely you may have inherited a genetic condition and if genetic testing is recommended for you,” Yuen said.
She added that genetic counselling is highly individualised and depends on a person’s specific family history. “The best person to test is always the individual with cancer in the family. But if they are not around, we may recommend testing other family members.”
Instead of mammograms, breast magnetic resonance imaging scans are a more suitable screening tool for younger women as they have denser breasts. (Photo: iStock/utah778)
“If someone tests positive from genetic testing and has Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer (HBOC) Syndrome, they have up to 70 to 80 per cent increased risk of breast cancer as compared to the general population of 13 per cent,” said Yuen.
If you test positive for HBOC, the genetic counsellor will then recommend a personalised screening schedule which is more frequent and regular. This could involve yearly breast screening such as breast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans and mammograms from the age of 25.
Such women are managed for life (until they reach 70 to 80 years old) and they will also be given a follow-up referral to a breast specialist. The discussions with the genetic counsellor also include implications for future children, existing children and other family members.
If your genetic test results do not identify inherited cancer risk, but you have a family history of breast cancer, earlier breast screening will be recommended.
“The standard is usually to recommend breast screening about five to 10 years before the earliest breast cancer diagnosis in the family. So for example, if a mum had breast cancer at 45, I would recommend her daughter to go for breast screening from age 35-40,” said Yuen.
She added that in the public sector, people can go to the National Cancer Centre Singapore and National Cancer Institute Singapore for cancer genetic testing.
OTHER PRACTICAL STEPS TO FIGHT BREAST CANCER
Yuen encourages individuals, especially young women, to be breast aware.
In a breast self-examination, a woman uses both touch and sight to check for unusual changes in her breasts. (Photo: iStock/icetocker)
“From the age of 18 years old, they can start doing breast examinations on themselves every few months. Do a three-finger circular check around the breasts on a regular basis to understand if there are any changes to their breasts.”
She stressed that if you notice any lumps, dimpling or skin texture changes, it’s important to seek medical advice promptly.
Lifestyle also plays a significant role in influencing one’s risk. Get regular exercise and maintain a good diet, limit alcohol and avoid smoking.
All the experts CNA Women spoke to have a common piece of advice: Talk about your fears.
Dr Rajendram said: “For many, these worries are carried in silence, creating a sense of isolation from friends or family who may not fully understand or be open to having these conversations. In our experience, offering age-appropriate information and creating supportive, safe spaces makes a real difference."
Young women can approach the Breast Cancer Foundation and Singapore Cancer Society, which offer counselling services and support groups tailored to young women at risk or affected by breast cancer.
Related:
CNA Women is a section on CNA Lifestyle that seeks to inform, empower and inspire the modern woman. If you have women-related news, issues and ideas to share with us, email CNAWomen [at] mediacorp.com.sg.
Continue reading...