Iness E. Taylor, a breast cancer survivor, said taking an annual mammogram is very important.

Unlike most breast cancer victims who find or see a lump somewhere in the breast, Taylor’s cancer was found in her right breast through her mammogram.

&uot;This was in 1995 when I was diagnosed,&uot; Taylor said. &uot;It was not a lump but calcifications about the size of a dime. After a biopsy was performed, I had the choice of having a mastectomy or the choice of having the spot of calcification removed. I chose the mastectomy which limited all chances of it coming back.

&uot;The operation was performed in about a week after I was diagnosed. I was told that I could have it done as an outpatient but chose to stay in the hospital overnight because I am also a diabetic and didn’t want to take a chance with any complications from my diabetes.&uot;

Taylor was 63 years old at that time, and when she left the hospital the next day she was told that she did not have to have any treatments of radiation or chemotherapy because doctors had gotten all the cancer.

She is a seven-year survivor and said that just the year prior to that operation, her mammogram test was normal.

&uot;When I got out of the hospital and after a short recuperation I kept getting up and didn’t even miss a beat doing anything. My advice to all women over 40 is to have a mammogram done annually because early detection really is the key to long life when you are diagnosed with breast cancer, &uot; she said.