Vim & Vigor - Fall 2019 - UVA - 12

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ABOUT
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A Common but
Serious Diagnosis

FA L L 2019

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1 Her mother, Judith, was a special needs

tutor and author, and her father, Gérard
(who was known as William), was a billionaire businessman.

2 She studied drama at Northwestern
University, where she met her husband,
Brad Hall.

3 She and her husband were members
of the Saturday Night Live cast in the
early 1980s.

4 She was part of the famed Second City
comedy troupe.

5 She appeared in Woody Allen's 1986
film Hannah and Her Sisters.

6 She was named one of The 50 Most
Beautiful People in the World by People
Magazine in 1998.

7 She and her husband have two children,
Henry and Charlie.
Sources: IMDb, The New Yorker, People

Cause, Risk Factors
and Prevention

Changes or mutations in DNA can cause
normal breast cells to become cancer.
Some of those DNA changes are passed
down from parents and can increase a
person's risk of breast cancer. But most
DNA changes linked to breast cancer
take place in breast cells during a person's life rather than having been inherited, the American Cancer Society says.
There are a number of lifestyle-related
risk factors for breast cancer. Here
are some of them, plus strategies to
lower risk:
3 Alcohol. Drinking alcohol is
linked to an increased risk of breast
cancer, according to the American
Cancer Society.
"The greater the amount of alcohol
you consume, the greater the risk of
breast cancer," says Len Lichtenfeld, MD,
American Cancer Society interim chief
medical and scientific officer.

Women who have two to three drinks a
day have about a 20 percent higher risk of
breast cancer compared with women who
don't drink alcohol. The American Cancer
Society recommends that women who
drink have no more than one drink a day.
3 Obesity. The link between weight
and breast cancer risk is complex. But
research has found that being overweight or obese after menopause seems
to increase breast cancer risk.
That's because before menopause,
ovaries make most of the estrogen, but
after menopause, when ovaries stop
making estrogen, most of the estrogen
comes from fat tissue, according to the
American Cancer Society. Having more
fat tissue after menopause can raise
estrogen levels and increase the risk of
breast cancer.
Women who are overweight also
tend to have higher blood insulin levels,
which have been linked with some cancers, including breast cancer.

PHOTO BY DAVID LIVINGSTON/GETTY

Aside from skin cancers, breast cancer is
the most common kind of cancer among
women in the United States, according
to the American Cancer Society.
Survival rates have increased drastically in recent decades, with death rates
from female breast cancer dropping
40 percent from 1989 to 2016, thanks in
large part to increased awareness and
better treatments.
But "it is still a very serious disease,"
says Susan Brown, MS, RN, senior
director of education and patient support at Susan G. Komen. "There are still
more than 41,000 people who will die of
breast cancer this year."
When celebrities like Louis-Dreyfus,
who has been a household name for
three decades thanks to her role as
Elaine Benes in Seinfeld, make their
diagnoses public, Brown says that not
only increases awareness of the disease but also can prompt people to be
more proactive.
"I think that most people in the
United States are aware of breast cancer, but just because people are aware
doesn't mean they will take action,"
she says. When a celebrity talks about
a breast cancer diagnosis, it "serves
as a trigger to encourage people
to take action related to their own
breast health."
Louis-Dreyfus' treatment included
surgery and three rounds of chemotherapy. She provided fans with a triumphant update on Valentine's Day 2018,
when she posted a glamorous photo
on Instagram.
"Hoorah! Great doctors, great results,
feeling happy and ready to rock after surgery," she wrote. "Hey cancer, 'F--- you!'
Here's my first post-op photo."
A few months later, Louis-Dreyfus
returned to the set of Veep to film season 7, which aired this year and marked
the close of the series.
Read on for some breast cancer
basics-and more about Louis-Dreyfus'
experience with the disease.

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Vim & Vigor - Fall 2019 - UVA

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