Cancer knows no age

Finding a grape-sized lump in her left breast wasn’t the surprise 33-year old Stephanie Roman had hoped for on Christmas Eve, 2016. That lump turned out to be an aggressively growing tumor, which a biopsy revealed was triple negative breast cancer. Under the care of hematologist-oncologist Dr. Namita Sharma, Stephanie began chemotherapy at Geisinger Community Medical Center’s new Cancer Center. “This is very scary at my age, and there’s not a lot of support in this area for young people. Other women don’t know that I just got pushed into menopause and I’m having hot flashes every 20 minutes, or that I think about the fact I might not be able to have kids.” But Stephanie fights her fears by educating herself. "Knowledge is power. The more I learned, the more I was in control.” With nine more rounds of chemo to go, Stephanie’s next phase of treatment includes surgery and radiation therapy. Also in her plans are marrying her fiancé, Mark Stanchak, and exploring the world. “If someone thinks, ‘maybe I should ask my doctor about a mammogram or something weird going on’ – do it. Cancer knows no age. Be your own advocate.” #GeisingerStories