Michelle Treese first noticed a lump in her left breast in late October 2023. By January 2024, a mammogram confirmed not just that lump but another suspicious area, and within weeks the 52-year-old Marion resident and HCA Healthcare educator was facing a diagnosis that would upend her life: stage 2, grade 3 triple-negative breast cancer, one of the most aggressive forms of the disease.
According to the Charlotte Observer, Treese was told that without treatment, she had roughly 11 months to live. What followed was about eight months of chemotherapy and approximately 18 months of immunotherapy; she also had surgery in September 2024, which showed no detectable cancer remaining. She did not undergo radiation. Today, she is cancer-free.
Triple-negative breast cancer lacks the estrogen, progesterone, and HER2 receptors that make many other tumors treatable with targeted hormonal therapies, according to the National Breast Cancer Foundation. The subtype accounts for roughly 10% to 15% of all breast cancer diagnoses, but it grows faster, spreads earlier, and carries a higher rate of recurrence than receptor-positive forms of the disease.
How the Diagnosis Unfolded
On the same day as her January 2024 mammogram, Treese had an ultrasound, and biopsies of both breasts followed the next week, the Observer's report notes. The results showed invasive ductal carcinoma in her left breast, while an abnormality found in her right breast turned out to be benign. It wasn't until after her diagnosis that Treese learned a paternal grandparent had also been diagnosed with breast cancer.
Treese was born in Missouri and raised in Marion. Looking back on the ordeal, she offered a blunt piece of advice to other women: “If something doesn't feel right today, get it checked today.” She described the experience in stark terms, saying, “This was a terrible, ugly experience, and the other side of it has been beautiful in many, many ways — more ways than I could have ever imagined,” per the same account.
Mission Health's Hope Women's Cancer Center in Asheville, Western North Carolina's dedicated women's cancer center, completed a facility expansion in February 2026 to add infusion capacity and clinical rooms, according to Mission Health. Dr. Blair Harkness, a gynecologic oncologist at the center, recommends that women begin discussing their individual breast cancer risk with a primary care provider by age 25.
Why Screening Timing Matters
Routine mammograms generally begin at age 40 for women at average risk, though family history, genetics, prior breast biopsies and other factors may warrant earlier or additional screening, the article notes. Hereditary breast cancers account for about 5% to 10% of all breast cancers. Harkness emphasized that earlier detection is associated with better outcomes and potentially less extensive surgery or less intensive treatment, and cautioned against complacency: “Don't wait for symptoms or assume you're not at risk because breast cancer doesn't run in your family.”
Mammograms can identify abnormalities before a lump becomes noticeable or before other symptoms appear, and supplemental screening — which may include breast MRI, contrast-enhanced mammography, or ultrasound — is sometimes recommended alongside standard imaging. Dense breast tissue, which is present in a large share of women over 40, can make abnormalities harder to detect on mammograms and is itself associated with an increased risk of developing cancer. Women are urged to contact a healthcare provider about new lumps, unusual nipple discharge, or changes to breast skin or the nipple, regardless of age or family history.
The guidance Harkness describes reflects a broader shift in national screening standards. On April 30, 2024, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommended that all women begin biennial screening mammograms at age 40. Its previous guidance advised women in their 40s to make an individual decision with a clinician and recommended screening for women ages 50 to 74, according to the USPSTF. Effective September 10, 2024, a separate FDA mandate under the Mammography Quality Standards Act began requiring mammography facilities nationwide to notify patients in writing whether their breast tissue is dense, since density can obscure tumors and raise cancer risk.
Who Is Most at Risk
Treese's case also touches on a point that often gets overlooked: men can develop breast cancer too, and should seek medical attention for concerning symptoms just as women are advised to. The American Cancer Society estimated that approximately 2,670 men in the United States would be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer in 2026, leading to an estimated 530 deaths, according to Susan G. Komen.
Nationally, breast cancer incidence among women younger than 50 rose by 1.4% annually from 2012 to 2021, compared with a 0.7% annual increase among women 50 and older, per the American Cancer Society. Triple-negative tumors disproportionately affect younger women and Black patients. Black women in the U.S. are 40% more likely to die from breast cancer than white women, despite a slightly lower overall incidence rate.
In North Carolina, female breast cancer diagnoses increased by 23% between 2003 and 2021, largely reflecting broader access to screening mammograms, according to a Carolina Demography analysis reported by WFDD. Breast cancer remains the second leading cause of cancer death among North Carolina women. Screening and early detection remain central to cases like Treese's.
