Toni's experience with breast cancer began long before she ever felt a lump. Toni was diagnosed with thyroid cancer in 1993, and in 1994, underwent treatment with an oral form of radiation - Isotope 131. Not long after radiation treatment, Toni's regular mammogram showed that she had developed microcalcifications in both her left and right breasts, possibly related to the treatment. Toni and her doctor resolved to watch these carefully, as they have the potential to become cancerous over time.

After Toni underwent the thyroid cancer treatment again in 1996, she noticed a change in her left breast. Six weeks after a normal mammogram, she detected a palpable (felt with her own hands) lump in her left breast. In three weeks time, this lump transformed from "nothing" into a 2 cm malignant tumor. Toni underwent a lumpectomy, lymph node removal and chemotherapy to treat her estrogen-negative cancer.

Toni remained diligent in monitoring her own breast health. In 2001 she immediately noticed when a similar change occurred in her right breast. Toni could feel a lump and went immediately for a mammogram. The mammogram revealed nothing new, even though Toni could feel the lump herself. Overall, she was not feeling well and was experiencing some itching in her right arm that further reinforced her belief that something was wrong. Toni proceeded to have an ultrasound, which did not uncover what she felt. She assisted the technicians in positioning the detector to help them find what she knew was there. Doctors did not believe that the 8 mm spot they found was anything to worry about and told Toni not to be concerned.

Still, Toni felt that something was wrong and believed that there had to be another method available to help her confirm her suspicions. She searched the Internet until she found Dilon. Clinical trials for BSGI with the Dilon 6800 camera were underway at Johns Hopkins and George Washington University hospitals. Toni insisted that she participate in these studies and have the BSGI procedure with the Dilon 6800 gamma camera. When she had the first test, what she knew to be true was confirmed. The lump she felt was indeed cancer. "I was relieved to find out, and began treatment right way," she said.

Toni immediately received treatment for this newly discovered cancer, and underwent another lumpectomy and lymph node removal. Toni was relieved to have found the truth, but was also disappointed in the limitations of mammogram and ultrasound. "If I had not taken the initiative to find another way to test, this tumor could have grown for three more years before it was detectable with a mammogram," Toni said.

Toni no longer trusts mammograms alone for her situation. "I would pay for it if I had to," she said. "Mammograms let me down twice. If you don't know, don't let it go."

She feels particularly strongly that women with microcalcifications should always have a secondary test to mammogram, and believes that the BSGI with the Dilon camera is the best option available. "If it shows nothing, then it's nothing," Toni stated. "If the BSGI shows it is not cancer, then no cancer is present."