Eight-year-old Chrissy Turner from Centerville, Utah, was diagnosed with a rare case of breast cancer called secretory carcinoma. Turner is the youngest person to ever receive a breast cancer diagnosis to date.
Both of Chrissy's parents are cancer survivors. Her mother, holistic life coach Annette Turner is a cervical cancer survivor. Her father, Troy, a Desert Storm veteran now working at Hill Air Force Base, is currently battling a relapse of a Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma that he got when Chrissy was just a baby.
Annette shared that during Troy's chemotherapy, Chrissy was their therapy who made them laugh through the tough times. The eight-year-old's cancer diagnosis came as a huge shock because of her young age and her family's cancer history. Annette shared that she broke down upon hearing Chrissy's diagnosis.
"We're just going to keep fighting and doing everything we can to smile every day and laugh every day and carry our head high and do our best to overcome this," said Annette, who explained that only one in one million women are diagnosed with this rare type of breast cancer.
Chrissy's doctor, Brian Bucher, said that the girl's breast cancer diagnosis is part of approximately 0.15 percent of all breast cancer types. The good news is that it is "very treatable." Chrissy is set for a mastectomy in December at the Huntsman Cancer Institute in Salt Lake City, Utah. To support her medical expenses, her family and friends created a GoFundMe page.
"I was scared to figure out what it was. But I knew I could fight it off and I hope that I can fight it off," said Chrissy, a third grader at Centerville Elementary whose positive attitude despite her condition is truly an inspiration.
Secretory breast carcinoma was first recognized in 1966 as a rare type of breast cancer in children. It was also previously called "juvenile carcinoma" but after discovering cases among patients whose ages ranged between nine to 69 years old, "juvenile carcinoma" was replaced by simply "secretory carcinoma." This rare type of breast cancer is distinguished by large quantities of extracellular and intracellular secretory material.
