A 26-year-old felt her concerns were being dismissed. Then she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

October 17, 2026 / 8:00 AM EDT / CBS News

Andrea de Armas knew the ultrasound technician thought she was overreacting.

De Armas was 26. She had no known family history of breast cancer. But she had found a lump in her breast. Before beginning a rigorous program to train as a physician assistant, she wanted to get it checked out.

Being that young in a waiting room filled with older patients getting routine scans was already unsettling, she said. Then the technician seemed to dismiss her concerns.

"The tech had 'Why are you here?' vibes. Without her explicitly saying that, that's exactly what she told me. I felt belittled and just weird," De Armas recalled. "I was like, 'I have a mass, I feel something on my chest or breast.' And they were like, 'Oh, really?' … It was just really uncomfortable the entire visit."

After the scan, a radiologist reviewed it and recommended that De Armas get a biopsy immediately. It was a sharp turn from the technician's skepticism, De Armas said, adding that she "had a lot of emotions and felt so conflicted" about the experience.

De Armas made an appointment at Baptist Health's Herbert Wertheim Cancer…

Original source: https://www.cbsnews.com/healthwatch/