A curious little ball, a so-called benign nodule ... It's because they dared to face the truth by getting tested that these women came out. Today, they testify.

Despite the vain polemics about breast cancer screening, despite the fears and anxieties that make us often prefer to play ostriches to the fate that strikes, it is better, much better, to consult quickly at the slightest doubt. All figures agree: early cancer is cancer healed in the vast majority of cases, with lighter and shorter treatment.

These women who testified went to organized screening, post-cancer follow-up consultations or their gynecologist when they were worried. They took that first step and avoided the worst.

Marie-Aude: "When showering, I discover a small painful ball on the breast"

"I returned happy from my beautiful summer and returned to Toulouse where I was studying.By showering, I discovered a small painful ball on the breast and think of a banal button mosquito.

Ten days pass, the 'sting' takes volume and becomes troublesome. I consult the doctor who reassures me: nine times out of ten, these small abnormalities are benign tumors. As a matter of conscience, he prescribed the usual exams at a specific moment in my cycle.

Worried, I do not want to wait anymore, I stop the pill to speed up the process and trigger my period. The mammogram will finally take place two weeks later. In the meantime, the button is growing and my mind is racing.

I'm not 'neutral' on that side, I lost my grandmother and father to cancer. The backdrop is unfortunate.

However, I joke during the check, I have small breasts, the radiologist will surely see nothing. He spots something that he does not like. He then attacks me and asks why I have waited so long. His reaction bothers me and anguishes me, now I feel guilty and I am afraid. The secretaries typing the minutes are watching me strangely, with compassion.

In their head, I am sick, I feel it. The atmosphere is leaded. Once back home, I open the sealed envelope for the doctor with the biopsy request and I scan everything to keep track. I stick this document in my notebook where I tell my story from the beginning. I spend hours on the Internet to understand.

My Toulouse doctor still seems so reassuring, it does not prevent me to address the cancer center to make the decisive examination. He drags more than fifteen days before making the appointment.

The ball is still growing.

Extremely worried, I end up calling my family doctor in Normandy, my region of origin. He has known me since I was very young and considers me a bit like his daughter.

I explain the situation with a lot of emotion in his voice. He reassures me as he can and relies on the biopsy. The doctor will finally proceed seven weeks after the discovery of the initial tumor. It's long. She has gained more volume. The younger you are, the more aggressive the cancer, the cells - especially the malignant ones - renew themselves more quickly.

Fortunately, our immune defenses are more important, the treatment responds better and the recovery capabilities are better. That's why we are being bombarded with drugs and the doses are larger.

The results come eight days later, at the end of October. We do not want to announce anything on the phone, I have to go there. I comb my hair and say it may be the last time I do it. In the waiting room, I am reviewing my matrimonial property law courses and persuading myself that I need to get ahead. I am hiding in a corner to postpone the moment of bad news.

People look at me as an unfortunate misguided girl who really has nothing to do here. The radiologist tells me that the three samples he has taken are 'positive' - that is, 'negative' for me. He takes me in his arms and we reassure each other. It's a great moment of humanity.

Leaving the cancer center, I'm not quite the same. It's not just my student binder that I'm wearing, it's also my prescriptions and my new life. "

Dominique: "Three weeks later, I had only one breast"

"I saw my gynecologist as part of a routine checkup after a first breast cancer that I had had eighteen months earlier.

She prescribed me a mammogram, but I had trouble doing this new exam. I went a little backwards, with the fear that we find something. I love life, I am very sporty, I need to move on. I lost my mammography prescription, there was always a mishap, a strike ... It took me almost a year to get there.

The examination showed micro-calcifications on the breast. It was necessary to make an ultrasound of control and to envisage a biopsy. Confident, I go to the surgeon for the test results. Bamboo shot!

The verdict thrills me, I am lost, in denial. My subconscious obstructs this news.

While the doctor explains to me, I think in my heart of hearts: 'I hate myself, I feel horrible.'

Seeing my distress, he offers me a meeting a little later to talk about all this. Only there, I can express myself and ask my questions.

When I had to announce this new blow to my family, I invited everyone to my parents, I did not want to rush anyone. And there, radios in support, I explained what I had. The pill is gone.

I finally got back in touch with the surgeon. Until the last minute, I thought he would not operate. I said to myself: 'It's not possible, it will take away these points without touching me', a bit like a magic wand!

He brought me back to earth announcing the necessary breast removal, chemotherapy and immediate breast reconstruction. Three weeks later, I had only one breast. Fortunately, my psychotherapist had prepared me for surgery, chemo, hair loss.

For my part, I helped my immediate family to cash in this shock. During this period, I had a feeling of guilt.

Today, it is much better. I resumed running (but I'm struggling), cycling, swimming and walking. I have a weekend planned in the Jura, another in Oisans. The doctors told me that I have the right to play golf, so I'll start. I have time, I am in therapeutic half time.

Fatima: "It's against my illness that I want to fight now"

"I felt it just before I went on vacation, there I was a little freaked out, we were made so aware of the risk of breast cancer My gynecologist mentioned a small nodule Nothing serious according to her, her daughter has just declared one, she does not seem at all worried about me.

Any gynecologist at the end of her career that she is, I propose to push a little research. She agrees to prescribe an ultrasound. The review confirms that everything is benign, but to be monitored regularly.

I do not know why, I have a presentiment. As I am intuitive, I listen to this inner voice and urge my gynecologist to deepen the analysis, despite these reassuring results. She sends me to one of her sisters at the Institut Curie.

The secretary thinks on the phone that my problem is not serious - she thinks she's a doctor or what? - and meet me a month later. A specialist receives me. She feels me, feels the nodule. As he is mobile and plays well on hand, she considers him harmless. She does not go further.

When I left, I collapsed. Reassured, but collapsed. Entering Curie puts you under pressure. They treat serious patients. We see women without hair, people who embody the disease terrifyingly.

In September, I will see a new gynecologist for my contraception. It also does not seem worried by this little mobile node always present. Eight months pass.

Boom! Second ball in the breast. This time, the doctor decides to make a cytopuncture on the first tumor.

The penalty falls in April: I have cancer.

I consult in a big Parisian hospital. I am offered the total removal of the breast. I take several opinions to see if there is anything left to save. The doctors contradict each other. I do not stop making plans on the comet. I scour the Internet, walk from one site to another and store information that I do not know what to do.

I collapse. I was acting, I give up everything. It's against my illness that I want to fight now. There is no question of squandering my energy elsewhere. I live alone with two children. After much procrastination, the doctors finally decide to remove only the tumors and not all the breast.

Then it's routine: chemo, radio and hormone therapy leading to early menopause .

Today, I feel very good. My libido works and I'm in love. I stopped eating too much fat. I give myself watercress, broccoli, and I started karate on the advice of my radiation therapist. According to him, martial arts are great for the prevention of breast cancer. "

Florence: "Why me? I am a believer, I lead a healthy life, I do not smoke, I do not drink"

"The first night of holidays, I shower and give me a glittery oil on my body to have softer skin, I feel a strange ball on the left breast, it is hard, relatively bulky and sticks to the tissues.

I do not know the human body very well, I am surprised but not at all worried. As I have an appointment with the village doctor for sciatica, I decide to talk to him about it, even if I find myself a little stupid to mention this anomaly. Maybe it's normal lymph nodes or usual glands that I do not know?

The doctor feels and asks me when I saw my gynecologist for the last time. It was only two months ago. He assumes that it is a harmless cyst and prescribes me a mammogram. 'Do it quickly, there is no point in waiting,' he told me confidently. I get an appointment soon enough.

I do not feel concerned about breast cancer. It does not exist in my head, not at my age and not in my family.

During the examination, the radiologist spends time, she examines the pictures and cowardly: 'It's not very pretty, all that.' She sends me to urgently consult a gynecologist who operates. I'm still not worried because everyone remains on the idea of ​​the cyst and the need for routine intervention. I would be rather happy. I want to take the opportunity to make my chest look more glamorous. I have been dreaming for a long time.

I tell all my friends that I will soon offer me the bumpers of Pamela Anderson.

The procedure goes smoothly, except that I get two balls instead of one. And here is the disaster.

The doctor phones me, calls for the presence of my husband at my side and tells me that we must remove everything. He speaks of a mammectomy, that is to say of complete removal of the breast. Curiously, these words do not distract me. This is the word breast cancer that acts as electroshock.

Why me ? I am a believer, I lead a healthy life, I do not smoke, I do not drink, I am young and I have no family history ... The situation plunges me into extreme loneliness. I have no friends already there to show me the way. Mammectomy takes place, followed by chemotherapy, radiotherapy and hormone therapy.

A few months later, I can finally benefit from a breast reconstruction. The surgeon makes me a beautiful chest that remains small however given my size. I can now consider a third child if I feel like it. If I had not talked about this ball to the village doctor for fear of being mistaken for an idiot, I would not be here today. "