How to advocate for a mammogram under age 50: ‘Don’t be afraid to speak up’

Many women in Canada aged 40 and up now have the option to self-refer or ask a doctor for breast cancer screening, yet many may still face pushback from health-care providers.

Joeline Norgaard was 42 when she began feeling pain in her breast. Concerned, she spoke with her doctor, who took her symptoms seriously and referred her for a mammogram at a local imaging clinic in 2020.

However, when the Oakville, Ont., resident arrived, she said she was met with a chilly reception from one of the technicians.

“I was getting this distinct sense that it was almost skepticism. And she actually asked me towards the end of my procedure as to why I was there, as if I was wasting their time,” Norgaard told Global News.

In Canada, national guidelines recommend that women without known risk factors begin regular mammograms at age 50. Norgaard wasn’t considered high-risk: she was healthy, had no family history of breast cancer and her only symptom was the pain. Yet despite these guidelines, she felt compelled to act on her body’s signals, trusting that potential early detection was worth any skepticism she might face.

Although that initial scan showed no concerning results, two years later, Norgaard felt a large lump in her right breast and received the diagnosis she’d feared: breast cancer.

“The official diagnosis was invasive ductal carcinoma. And I was just in absolute shock; I was blindsided,” she said, adding that during her cancer journey, she had to self-advocate several times to ensure she received the support and treatment she needed.

Norgaard is one of the many Canadians affected by breast cancer; in 2024 alone, more than 30,000 women in the country were newly diagnosed with the disease.

Breast cancer is not only the most common cancer among Canadian women but diagnoses in adults under 50 are also on the rise.