Meet the Models, New England: Andreia Sacca
In 2017, at 40 years old, Andreia Sacca came home from the gym and felt a bump under her sports bra. She ignored it, mostly because she had no family history of cancer and had breastfed for many years, which is an ode to the myth that there is a connection between breastfeeding and breast cancer.
Just prior to a family vacation to Disney in March, Andreia saw her PCP for a sinus infection and happened to mention the lump: “Looking back, I can see concern in her eyes.” The doctor scheduled her for a mammogram upon her return date, something that triggered nerves inside Andreia. She remembers the exact moment, at the Bugs Life ride, when it hit her: “I turned to my friend and said I have breast cancer. I just had this innate feeling.”
With her youngest being 5 and oldest 11, Andreia had herself “dead and buried” and began taking photos at every ride because she was convinced it would be the last time she vacationed with her children. Upon return from Disney, it was confirmed she had Stage 2B triple negative breast cancer. The tumor she found, only the size of a grain of sand when she first felt it, was already 1.4cm and just a few days later at surgery, it had grown to 1.7cm. The cancer had also spread to 2/4 lymph nodes. Though aggressive, Andreia fought and she happily counts herself a survivor today.
Throughout her journey, she was extremely public, particularly on social media, about genetic testing. Her doctor’s choice, a rarity in 2017, to genetically test her proved the link to her cancer came from her paternal side. It prompted her to alert her cousins, many of whom turned out to be BRCA positive, or have links to other cancers: “I feel strongly about telling women to be more preventive than I was, but God was at the helm of it all. If not for my faith, I would not have gotten through it. He used me as a vessel because I was able to go through this and help others.” Indeed, Andreia’s motivation to hit the runway this fall is to further reach women to remind them of the power of advocacy, particularly about genetic testing, in the hopes more women have the power to choose their fate before cancer occurs.