When I first heard this story I didn't believe it. But there was the news headline saying a ten year old girl had Stage II ductal breast cancer. It just didn't make any sense! First of all, you need to have breasts in order to have breast cancer -- so she either had a tumor of her breast bud or she had premature puberty, which in itself suggests that she has unusual levels of hormones.

As the story evolved, we then learned that the girl did not have the kind of cancer that adult women get, but rather a secretory cancer. These account for less than .15% of breast cancers and are associated with a good prognosis. In fact, this type of cancer was originally called 'juvenile breast cancer' when described in 1966 because the only known patients were children or very young women. Again, these secretory cancers generally have an excellent prognosis particularly in those who are young.
 
It is too bad for a child to have to go through this. It's sad for any boy or girl to get cancer. We should not, however, get carried away. This is a very rare tumor and certainly does not mean we need to start screening children or young women for breast cancer. It's important that young girls see their breasts as wonderful, nurturing parts of their bodies. The last thing we want to do is turn their breasts into body parts that are going to turn on them at a moment's notice.
 
So relax, folks. Rare diseases are rare! Let's worry instead about obesity in children and their lack of physical activity. The best way to prevent breast cancer in adulthood (that we currently know of) is with physical exercise, particularly around puberty and the teenage years. If there's an action to take, it's to get physical education back in the schools and prevent the common problems that end up affecting so many.