I am talking about many women who made similar plans and were on schedule and got pregnant after succeeding in their carreers and buying a house and a car, so usually after their 35th birthday. And when they are so happy they will become mothers they find out they have breast cancer. So the next logical question to ask is :"Does breast cancer affect pregnancy?". Let's try to find out the answer together by studying the facts.
Presently the incidence of breast cancer in pregnant women is about 1% and growing. This is due to the fact that more and more women decide to become mothers for the first time at a later point in life, usually after 30, even 35. The problem is that breast cancer risk increases with age. So there are a lot of pregnant women who can also have breast cancer at the same time.
It is a very serious matter because if the woman is pregnant the signs of having breast cancer can be misleading and attributed to pregnancy so it is very likely to delay the point when the disease is discovered and this affects the possibility to get cured. When carrying a baby , your breasts become bigger and more dense and the lumps signaling breast cancer are a lot more difficult to identify. The big hormone changes in the body during this period are not helping either, as progesterone is helping tumors to develop and get bigger. So usually if the woman is pregnant the cancer in her breast is discovered in the later stages and is more difficult to treat.
Then there are a lot of things to consider and risks to be measured. Radiation and chemotherapy may affect the fetus and cause malformations and an earlier delivery and God knows what other disastruous effects. So many doctors recommend the termination of pregnancy when the woman finds out she has breast cancer. This does not increase her chances of getting cured, but eliminate the possibility of having a baby with health problems. Besides, if there are no restrictions for treatment, the woman can be treated more aggressively and can fight the disease at a more alert pace.
However, there is also the possibility to be sick and still keep the baby. Just have the cancer tissue removed from the body and postpone radiotherapy and chemotherapy until after the baby is born. But all these must be discussed with the doctor and be decided after a thorough documentation and depend a lot on the state of health of the mother, the development of the fetus, the stage of cancer and a lot of other factors.I have to inform you that there haven't been many studies made on this topic, so the exact consequences are not known very well.
In conclusion, breast cancer does affect pregnancy but not directly. The pregnancy is influenced by the decisions taken as a consequency of having this terrible disease.