• Cancer

    In the Loop: Kristen Dahlgren reported on rare cancer symptoms — then discovered her own

Cancer diagnosis: Red Pills, Injections and Syringe

When NBC News correspondent Kristen Dahlgren came to Mayo Clinic to report on a new study, she thought it was just another routine assignment. Three years later, she credits it with saving her life.


When NBC News correspondent Kristen Dahlgren came to Mayo Clinic to report on a new study on unusual breast cancer symptoms, she thought it was just another "routine assignment," she writes on Today.com. Three years later, Kristen calls it "a story I credit with saving my life."

Back in 2016, Kristen reported that researchers in England found that 1 in 6 breast cancer patients had symptoms other than breast lumps. "What this new study tells us is it's profoundly important to be aware of your breasts, to be familiar with your breasts, even outside of a ritual monthly self-breast exam," Deborah Rhodes, M.D., from Mayo's Breast Diagnostic Clinic told Kristen at the time.

Those words came back to her last year on her 47th birthday. "I was getting ready to meet friends when I caught a glimpse of a slight dent in my right breast. I had never noticed it before," Kristen writes in a December 2019 piece on Today.com. "Beneath the dent, I didn't feel a lump, but something I might describe as a 'thickening.' It just felt different than everywhere else."

Read the rest of Kristen's story.
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This story originally appeared on the In the Loop blog.