“I never thought I would get cancer, Latina women have low breast cancer numbers, so I didn’t think I needed to worry. But I was wrong,” said Ana Gutierrez. In 2011, the 46-year-old underwent a double mastectomy, chemotherapy and radiation treatments to fight breast cancer.
According to the American Association for Cancer Research, Latinas have a 20 percent more chance to die from Cancer. While Latinas have lower breast cancer rates than non-Hispanics, the disease is deadlier. The cancers are more aggressive and come at an earlier age, often when the women are in their 40s. Many Latinas also are diagnosed when tumors already are at an advanced stage, when they’re harder to treat.
