What is TNBC?

I'm sure a few of you may have asked yourself what it is to have triple negative breast cancer. You'd think it would be good, as usually when you find out something to do with your health is negative it actually ends up being a positive thing.

Breast cancer can have up to 3 receptors; oestrogen, progesterone and HER2. Finding out what receptors you have or don't have basically decides your course of treatment and what type of drugs would work best to tackle it. Triple negative means I am lacking in all 3 of these receptors which in turn limits the amount of drugs that would best take on my cancer. Hormone therapies and medicine for HER2 cancers most likely wouldn't work.

Only 10-20% of breast cancers are triple negative and are most likely to occur in younger women, African-American women and Hispanic women, as well as carriers of the BRCA gene mutation.

After my diagnosis, due to my age and lack of breast cancer in my family I was tested for the gene mutation and for that, just like everything else, I was negative. That was some sort of comfort for me, although this is still extremely important information for when my daughter is older.

There are support groups online for women with TNBC, and if you're affected it's best to get hold of breast cancer charities and organisations.